“I’m offering you the choice: a public whipping or the ordeal of Astra. You would be privately punished and submit your body to another’s desires for the duration.” He maintained a steadfast gaze with a glimmer in his eyes and she squirmed, unable to look away.
It couldn’t be possible—what he proposed was unbelievable. “You?” she exclaimed.
“Me. I am a high-ranking judge and licensed to claim a convict for an ordeal. I will take you to my residence, where you be locked away from prying eyes. A room without luxuries but better than a detention cell.” He stepped toward her, closing the gap and she held her breath. When he reached out to touch her chin, she didn’t flinch, but she snatched a breath. He towered over her and nudged her head up, forcing her to meet his steely gaze.
Oh my God, she nearly blurted. The warmth of his breath bloomed over her. She crushed her legs together instinctively. Did he know? How could he. She’d not been examined.
“I would be your prisoner? Punished by you?” she whispered. How could she agree when she didn’t know him? Who was this judge and why was he willing to take her to his home to conduct this ordeal? Was he simply after a woman, a human female, to fuck? Or worse, was he a sadist?
“At my discretion. But only me. You would be saved from public humiliation and from your fellow humans witnessing your punishment. They would never know.” He stroked his finger down her cheek. “No tears? You’re not afraid of me?”
She was still trembling. She had to tell him, because at the moment there was no choice. She couldn’t follow in the footsteps of Astra.
“I’m a virgin,” she blurted.
His hand dropped and his eyes widened in surprise. “You’ve never been with a man?”
She smirked, feeling a little mollified by the admission. “Well, yes, but not that way, and just because I get drunk…not all students…” she added feebly.
He laughed softly. “Forgive me, I have been presumptuous with my views of human copulation. Is it not your way to fuck once you come of age?”
Zara rubbed her hands up and down her arms. The direction of the conversation was creeping into the intimate, but if that was what he wanted from her, then he had to understand her better.
“It used to be something you did on the wedding night, you know.” She shrugged a little nervously. “Not so much like that these days. I’m twenty. I’ve just not met the right man.”
“Mmm, I see. Then if I was to tell you I promise to take your virginity with consideration, would you still accept my alternative sentence?”
Fuck, he’s keen.
He wanted her. She tingled all over and she shouldn’t. It couldn’t be right. He was going to punish her, fuck her, do whatever the hell he liked. “And then, after you take my virginity?” she asked slowly.
“You are mine,” he said softly.
“For how long?”
He was close again, hovering right by her breasts and so close to brushing against her. “Until two moons have come and gone. Two moons of Halos.”
Which meant about seven weeks on Earth. That long! Would it take that long to complete her public whipping? Probably not.
“I don’t know, sir,” she stuttered, feeling overwhelmed and uncertain.
“I want you, Zara. I want to punish your sweet bare ass with my hand. I want to witness you come when I demand it. I want to enter you. You will submit and serve me every day. You will stay naked in my presence. In return I shall ensure your privacy is protected, your criminal files kept confidential and you will come to no harm.”
The room was hot. Or felt hot. The blood had rushed to her cheeks and she swayed.
He caught her arm and steadied her. “Sit down here.” He led her to a chair and she flopped onto it.
He brought back the glass of water and held it to her lips.
After the cool liquid trickled down her dry throat, she spoke. “I don’t want to be whipped. Will you whip me?”
He frowned. “The whipping is necessary, but as I shall be conducting it; it will be a formality. The focus of your punishment won’t be the whipping. Neither will you be punished in public. I shall hold you accountable in private. You will obey me and disobedience will warrant further punishments.”
“How can I trust you?” Tears threatened again.
He crouched by her chair. “You have my word. And, if it reassures you, my house is kept by my mother’s old nursemaid. Well, my old nurse.” He grinned. “Bisma came with me from Halos.”
“Won’t she be…shocked?”
The judge—Galen, he had a name and she needed to think of him as a fellow humanoid—chuckled. “Bisma? A nurse is not just there to raise children and nurse the sick. She is quite adept at preparing the body for sex.”
“Oh,” she murmured.
It sounded simple. Submit to Galen and pretend to be Astra, the legendary lover of Brynt, and the slate would be wiped clean. Nobody, only the court recorder, would know.
Galen stood and she remained under his shadow, it seemed to embrace her as if the darkness wanted her too.
Nothing made sense any more. She should refuse, be repulsed by his offer, but she wasn’t, because if she cast aside her doubts and pride, she wanted to know what it felt like to have a man take her. Not just any man, but an alien who was capable of fucking for hours without tiring.
She looked up into his bright eyes. They beckoned, called to her. They weren’t evil eyes; they were serious and kind of sexy in a peculiar way.
“I accept the Ordeal of Astra,” she whispered.
“Kneel at my feet and say it,” he commanded.
She sank and knelt. Her voice came out surprisingly clear. “I accept the ordeal of Astra. I accept I am yours.”
“Good. This pleases me. To ensure you understand, I’m going to take you over my knee and spank you.”
Zara scrambled to her feet. “Now?”
“If you can’t submit to me here and now, then how will you when I take you to my home and shackle you to my bed?”
“Shackle?” What had she agreed to do! A rush of nausea hit her belly. Galen wasn’t going to ease her gently into this ordeal thing he proposed. He meant business and now.
“You’re a prisoner. You will earn my trust. If you behave, then I shall reward you with greater liberties. The first test is to take down your pants and bend over my lap. Now!”
Her mouth hung open for a few seconds. “But … but why?”
“Your ass needs tempering. And, I want to punish it.” He touched the back of the chair as if to claim it. “It’s time you took responsibility for the trouble you’re in, or have you forgotten what a naughty human you’ve been?”
The reprimand was the sort of silly thing her father might say to her when she’d done something wrong—naughty girl, Zara. Except when Galen said the words, they didn’t sound the slightest bit silly. He’d given them an edge, a hardness in his tone that made her pulse race and her skin tingle.
He pulled her to her feet. Before she could protest, he sat on the chair, drew her down and over his lap and began to pull down her waistband. He dragged her pants down to her knees and as she wriggled, he did the same to her panties. No cool rush of air hit her skin, she was too hot to feel anything remotely refreshing. She clenched her ass cheeks tight together and went rigid.
Was this any less humiliating than being tied to a post and whipped while the world watched on? Probably, it certainly felt that way.
The smack of his hand on her ass caused her to jump up, so he grabbed her arm and pinned it behind her back, then hooked his leg over hers, preventing her from rising up. The next smack drove her deeper onto his lap until she felt the hard muscles of his thighs.
She squawked as he continued to switch from one buttock to another at a rapid pace and the noise echoed around his office in a horrible way, as if her bottom had been turned into a drum set.
“Oh, ow, ow!” she howled, feeling each slap meet her tense cheeks. She knew she should try to calm down, but she couldn’t. The more she battled against him, the harder his hand came down and the worse it felt.
She’d never been spanked before. It wasn’t horrendously painful or even agonising, but it still damn well hurt. She tried to twist her bottom to one side, but he’d locked her in place with his firm grip.
“Keep still, little human,” he commanded and rained down a few more smacks.
Little human!
What an insulting remark—it made her sound weak. She humped his lap in protest and drummed her toes on the floor. Her panties joined her pants around her ankles. Now her legs were completely bare.
“You will learn to keep still or these spankings will last longer,” Galen said.
“My ass is fucking on fire, you brute!” she shouted in her mother tongue. She didn’t care if he was a judge or some great warrior, or even whether he understood what she said. Each blow added to the heat and pain. It couldn’t go on much longer—he’d stop soon, wouldn’t he? She was starting to feel the tears drip down her nose and cheeks.
“This is just the start of your ordeal, little human. You need to respect me. By the time I’ve finished with you in two moons, you’ll be begging me to spank you, just so you can feel my firm hand on your soft flesh.”
Bloody arrogant alien!
He was going to be very disappointed if he thought she was going to leap across his lap for this degrading display of submission. What the fuck was she thinking when he told her about the ordeal?
She switched back to speaking his language. “This isn’t fair. I don’t want—”
“Your wants are not relevant. You may ask, but you cannot demand.” He wasn’t slowing down as he spoke and the continuous stream of slaps was weakening her resolve.
With a sudden hiccough, she started to cry in earnest. “Please, please, sir. I’ll be good. I will.”
It hadn’t taken much. Just a few minutes of spanking and she’d cracked apart. What would he think of her? Some pathetic Earthling who weakened the moment she was tested? If this was day one of the Ordeal of Astra, in two moons time, she’d be a mess, a blubbering wreck who he couldn’t possibly want to fuck.
She stopped writhing and her body froze as she processed that last wild thought—she actually wanted to be fucked by him. Why was that idea lodged in her mind? She was hating the spanking but loving something else about him. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what that was.
Galen slowed, then paused, rubbing each ass cheek in turn.
“Good girl. Now ten more hard smacks and you’ll take them without me pinning you down.” He removed his leg and released her restrained arm at the same time.
Zara pushed her palms flat on the floor, ready to spring to her feet. Dare she defy him or should she obey?
