Bound to the Commander

by Libby Campbell

  “Right,” Kai said. “Here’s the story from our end: at midnight my beloved woke me from a sound sleep. I was dead to the world after a demanding day of military maneuvers, so I accepted her statement as reasonable.”

  Pepper and Gael exchanged slightly guilty looks. They both knew this was the weakest part of their plan. Kai arched an eyebrow first at Gael and then at Pepper. Pepper’s stomach turned to water. She wouldn’t want that fierce man angry at her.

  “At seven this morning we received a call from the innkeeper in Rosemoor, via Tribunal Hall in Rosewyld, saying no one had seen the princess or her companions since the evening before. They were gone, as were the guards, and their vehicles.”

  Kai leaned back in his chair. “I didn’t think anything about it at first. I reassured the caller that you’d gone to the next town to investigate an interesting case. I accepted that but it was someone less trusting in Rosemoor who didn’t buy that story. What was his name—?”

  “Sector Captain Brinley Vachon,” Quinn supplied.

  Kai nodded. “Around noon, he started contacting all his sources in Littington. No one had seen any strangers that day, let alone a princess and her security details. A convoy like yours would have been noticed wherever it went.”

  Folding his arms over his muscular chest, Kai said, “By late afternoon it was apparent you’d gone missing in action. Quinn looked at the program following Pepper’s tracker. It had stopped recording in the vicinity of the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp earlier in the day.”

  Quinn stood and peered down at the two women who sat with their arms linked like schoolgirls. He said, “I learned something interesting when I activated the tracking on your CitizenBand—there is a communication blackout over the entire camp. We couldn’t ping Gael’s CommBand either. Both your signals dropped out once you reached the valley where the camp is.”

  Kai shifted in his seat. “With that we went onto red alert. We fired up the fast copters and were on our way to where your coordinates had last registered.” Kai rose and walked to where Gael sat. “My relief at finding you piloting that ride was only slightly spoiled by the disappointment that I didn’t have to fight to save you. I’ve always wanted to rescue a princess in distress, Gael, but you keep denying me the privilege.”

  Quinn held out a hand to Pepper. “Kai and I have a lot to think and talk about now. I’m going to suggest that the ladies ready themselves for bed while you and I decide what happens next. I suspect there are going to be a couple of very sore bottoms at the breakfast table tomorrow.”

  Pepper and Gael shivered simultaneously before hugging each other good night.

  * * *

  Quinn sent Pepper into the bedroom to prepare for bed. He told her she had time for a bath and more because he and Kai had a lot to discuss. Kai escorted Gael back to their suite for what Pepper guessed would be similar instructions.

  Pepper bathed quickly, grateful for the soft white robe supplied by the hotel. Then she pressed her ear to the door, hoping to hear the conversation in the next room. Trying to eavesdrop was pointless. The door was solid oak and only muffled sounds reached her, but the tone was low and serious. There was a crackle when someone was tapped in over the CommBand, but static made it impossible for Pepper to hear.

  Frustrated, she climbed into bed and turned on an old Earth movie about love found, love lost, and love rediscovered. She’d seen it many times before but never tired of it. Minutes before the story reached its satisfying ending, Quinn entered the room.

  He’d already discarded his jacket and removed his boots, so she hadn’t heard him coming. He stood at the end of the bed in his black t-shirt and tight-fitting pants. His face was unreadable. “What am I going to do with you?”

  Pepper turned off the screen.

  “Give me a kiss and tell me you’re happy I’m safe?” Pepper suggested weakly.

  “I’m happy you’re safe.” He narrowed his eyes. “I’m furious that you disobeyed me, that you took such a major risk without discussing it with me.”

  Pepper tried to swallow but her mouth was so dry she almost choked.

  He sat down on the sofa facing the bed. “Do you remember the rules of your trip?”

  Pepper grabbed the water glass from beside the bed. One big gulp unstuck her tongue from the roof of her mouth. “Straight to Rosemoor via Torpeth. No detours. No side trips. No more than three days in Rosemoor and then home again,” she said slowly, trying to delay the end of her confession.

  At least her voice didn’t waver.

  “Correct on all counts. So you know you will be punished for not notifying me of your change in plans, don’t you?”

  She nodded, afraid to say anything that might condemn her to a worse punishment than he already had in mind.

  He rubbed his temples with the heels of his hands and blew out a loud sigh. “And now I know what you didn’t want to tell me in Rosewyld.”

  Pepper nodded.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you’d found your mother?” Quinn roared the question, rising to his feet. Rage turned his hair bright red. He crossed his arms, almost as if he was trying to stop himself from doing something violent or uncontrolled.

  Pepper shrank back into the padded headboard of the bed, clutching her arms around her knees, making herself as small as possible. “You are the commander. I thought you knew. I assumed you put her there—along with all the other people who have been imprisoned with her.”

  Quinn’s arms fell loose to his sides. His hair and complexion returned to normal as his jaw softened. Pepper could almost see the wheels turning in his brain as he realized that she’d made a logical assumption.

  He strode to the bed, lifted her up, and sat her on his knee. Rocking her, he said, “Do you really think so little of me that you’d believe I’d be the instigator of such terrible practices? Little sparrow, I’m not a devil.”

  “But my mother’s there. She can’t leave. She’s tried.” Tears spilled down Pepper’s cheeks again. Would she ever be done with crying? “And Papa was transported to Silvelea.”

  “I know, my sparrow. Please believe me, I only found these things out tonight. And I’m so very sorry.”

  “What do you mean you only found out tonight? You’re the fucking commander!” She launched herself off his lap and stomped to the far side of the room. “You’re the leader. The fucking head honcho. You’re supposed to know everything that is going on.” She grabbed a cushion from the chair intending to throw it at him but stopped herself.

  “Get back here,” Quinn said.

  Pepper glared at him and swiped a tear from her eye before returning to his side. She sat with her arms folded, refusing to look at him.

  “Would you listen better if you were over my knee with a scarlet backside?” he asked.

  Pepper swallowed audibly, unclenching her fists.

  “Now we can talk.” He stood and started to pace. “Of course I knew about the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp. But all I knew was that it existed and sick people were sent there to convalesce. The camp was one of my father’s initiatives after the epidemics that came with the Civil War. The Healing and Rehabilitation Camp, along with the broader mandate to maintain citizen stability is the purview of the Minister of Citizens’ Activity and Well Being, Daedra Mazrant.”

  Pepper sighed. “I know that now.” She picked up the scrap of fabric from her nightstand and showed him Terence’s shoulder flash.

  As Quinn studied it, the color drained from his face. “She’s had that ministry since long before the Civil War ended, over twenty years. She was my father’s second in command. She wrote the Handbook with him. I assumed her loyalty to him transferred to me and only recently started to look more closely at her methods. Then she was overheard boasting to her lover that she knew a healer who could cure Waking Illness but that she didn’t intend to share that knowledge with anyone else.”

  He slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. “Now I realize that she’s been planning a coup. She’s been
hoarding medical resources and imprisoning healers while amassing a conscripted army. The beautiful rest stop and fine new highway to Littington? Those are all improvements to support and access her power base. That’s as much as I’ve been able to find out tonight by mobilizing the entire Tribunal.”

  Dragging his hands through his thick blue hair, he pulled off the band that kept it tidy. It spilled over his shoulders. “This is all my fault. I misplaced my trust and ignored my instincts when she did and said things that sounded off. I should have sensed her ambitions and her menace.

  “Normally I’m a keen judge of character but I accepted her in my government without scrutiny.” He twisted a long handful of his hair around his fist and wrenched it hard, as though he wanted to punish himself for his own naivety. Pepper’s heart quickened with sympathy and a desire to ease his pain.

  He sank onto the chair by the window and buried his face in his hands. He stayed that way for a long moment before straightening his shoulders and giving Pepper a distant look. “I did know about the penalty of transportation to Silvelea, I can’t deny that.”

  Closing his eyes, he tilted his head back and sighed heavily. “But I thought it was reserved for only the most heinous crimes, not simple dissidence. I have so much work to do.”

  When he opened his eyes again, Pepper saw cool resolve in his expression. “But changes are already afoot.”

  He opened his arms to her. She hopped off the bed and crossed the room in a flash. For the first time since she’d met him, she understood the isolation that came with being the commander. Sliding onto his lap, Pepper sensed the burden of his ponderous responsibilities, a burden that had now been exacerbated by his humiliation in learning about Daedra’s corruption. Even though it was Daedra, not Quinn, who’d imprisoned people in the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp, other people were bound to think like Pepper. They’d assume that Quinn not only knew about it but endorsed it.

  The injustice of the situation saddened her.

  Quinn wasn’t perfect. He was flesh and blood like everyone else, but people expected him to be perfect.

  He had just proven how imperfect he was. He’d trusted someone he shouldn’t have, at a terrible cost to many citizens. Now his reputation was tarnished. There was something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before: self-doubt.

  He would make amends, Pepper knew that. It would be difficult, but she could prevent it from being a lonely journey.

  For the first time he would truly need her.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Pain, Pleasure, and Other Promises

  Pepper rested her head on Quinn’s shoulder.

  He gently rubbed her arms. “The important thing you need to know right now is that the first troops are on their way to the camp already. I’ve spoken to the Lord Treasurer who will arrest Daedra Mazrant tonight. He’ll take on her responsibilities as minister for now and will coordinate the liberation of the camp with our guards and Kai’s sailors. Fortunately, Senne’s sailors are trained in land and sea action.”

  He exhaled wearily. “We will provide CommBands to all the residents so they can at least talk to their loved ones until we can open access to the camp and fully deactivate the electronic dome.”

  Pepper willed her hands to stop trembling. “Mama?”

  “Will be one of the first to come home, when she’s ready. She can return to Rosemoor or join us in Rosewyld. She may want to be with us, along with Lily and Brinley, for when we exchange vows.”

  “You’re asking me to join with you?”

  Quinn smiled and sank to one knee, taking Pepper’s hand in his. “My beloved little sparrow, would you do me the honor of being my partner?”

  He was so tall that even as he knelt in front of her, their eyes were at the same level. Her heart raced but she refused to make it easy for him.

  “I might.” Her lips twitched. “I might not.”

  “What would I have to do to win your heart?” He kissed the palm of her hand, his eyes dancing in amusement.

  “To start with? Burn that horrible wooden chair in your office, the one with the tulip pattern on the seat.”

  “Not going to happen. Next.”

  “Burn that horrid paddle then.”

  “Sure. Then I can buy more just like it. Maybe one for every day of the week?”

  Pepper snorted. “Scratch that. But I’d like a CommBand. A legal one.”

  “A definite possibility but you haven’t paid the penalty for your black market one yet so we can discuss that later. What else?”

  “I want to learn how to drive a hover-ride.”

  “Good idea. We’ll make that a priority.”

  “Chocolate for breakfast every day of my life.” She closed her eyes and moaned with delight at the thought.

  With one quick move, Quinn stood, sat beside her and upended her over his lap. Before she caught her breath, he’d raised the hem of her robe and started to spank her with nothing more than gentle love taps. Pepper started to giggle.

  Quinn delivered a hard smack to her sit spot. “Do you want to take vows with me or not?”

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!” she shrieked between gales of laughter.

  “You better get used to a lot of this then because I’m going to spank you every day.”

  “Not every day,” she laughed.

  “Every single day.”

  “If you stop, I’ll show you why you don’t have to,” she wheedled.

  “Maybe I don’t want to stop.” He smacked the top of her thighs before swatting her smartly a dozen times. “You have earned a thorough spanking tonight, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe, but if we hadn’t done what we did, all those people in the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp would still be prisoners.”

  Quinn stopped spanking and lifted her back on his lap. “Sometimes you are too logical for your own good, but the means do not necessarily justify the ends. What do you think is an appropriate punishment for a naughty girl who breaks her promise and puts herself and others in danger?”

  “I think I’ve just had it.”

  “And I think you haven’t. Drop the robe. I want you naked.” His hair flared black for a second and Pepper suppressed a smile at his arousal. “Kneel on the end of the bed, with your bare bottom facing into the room. Kai and I have decided that you and Gael both need a taste of leather tonight to remind you to never be so reckless again.”

  Pepper’s mouth opened but she said nothing. She’d taken a risk and been caught but she didn’t regret it. She was standing on the ledge above the icy mountain pond again.

  Shedding her robe quickly, she positioned herself at the end of the bed, as instructed. She tried to take herself to the spanking zone, the place she retreated when she was due for punishment. But the second Quinn’s belt soughed out of his trousers, her resolve faltered.

  When the first cut landed on her backside she said, “Please, no.”

  “You will not disobey me again,” he scolded as his belt scorched her bottom cheeks a second time. “Give me your word.”

  “I can’t give you my word if I’m not going to keep it,” she moaned.

  Whack. The belt fell again.

  “Do you want me to lie? To make promises I know I won’t keep?” she whimpered.

  Quinn hesitated. “Promise me you’ll try to obey me.”

  “I promise.” She paced her breathing, trying not to hyperventilate.

  “That’s all I wanted,” he said and sat on the bed, lifting her into his arms.

  “That’s it?” she asked in disbelief. “You’re done spanking me?”

  “For tonight, yes.” He leaned against the headboard with her nestled against him. “I’m so sorry for the grief you’ve suffered when your parents were taken from you. I promise to get your mother home again as soon as possible.”

  She felt protected and safe as he surrounded her with his powerful arms. His voice was warm on her ear and she shivered when his lips touched her neck.

  “Kai has agreed to lend us his troops
and lead a campaign with me into Silvelea. We’ll look for your father and any other Elsinanians who have been wrongly transported there.”

  “Is Gael going?” Pepper asked, her hope rising.

  “He said it may be hard to stop her. She is a trained fighter and the crown princess.”

  “If she goes then I can go too, right?”

  “Did you hear what I just said?” He spoke directly into her ear. The deep timbre of his voice made her pussy clench and her nipples pebble.

  “Yes. Gael is going.” Desire thickened her voice.

  “She is trained in martial arts and some weaponry.” With a single finger under her chin, he turned her face to his and kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks. “This may be a good time for you to try to obey,” he said gently.

  She purred in response and slid her hand down the side of his leg.

  His voice was a calming caress as he bent his face over hers. “Little sparrow,” he said. “I’m falling in love with you all over again.”

  He placed his warm lips on hers and flicked his tongue into her mouth.

  With that single, sensual move, their hunger banished everything in the world but the swirling sensuality that was theirs and theirs alone.

  Pepper rolled onto her side, tearing at his clothes, feeling the heat of his need for her. When she scooted down the bed to drag his pants off, she found him rock hard. The size and rigidity of his cock made undressing him a slight challenge, but she eased his magnificent manhood out of his clothing with reverence.

  “You are so beautiful,” she said, stroking the silky skin of his penis, teasing the tip with the flat of her thumb.

  He guided her hands away and flipped her on her back. Then he arched his body over hers, resting on his elbows. “God, I’ve missed you these past nights,” he said.

  As he spoke, she showered tender kisses over his throat.

  Quinn grinned and dipped his head, taking one of her ample breasts in his mouth. He licked, sucked, and nibbled it softly. His hand pinched and flicked her other nipple.

  Her hips rolled up toward him. “Take me,” she pleaded.