A Short Leash Read Free

She’d committed to the bite and usually she never let go until the citizen screamed and ran away. Master Kade didn’t seem inclined to scream and he hadn’t moved an inch. He hadn’t even moved his hand away. He was just letting her have it, demanding that she control herself. She could see the powerful set of his shoulders, the thick brawn of his arms. He could have beaten her into next week, but he didn’t seem inclined to violence.
    “You have three seconds to let go,” he said. “Before your hide pays the price for this.”
    She did not let go. This was the testing point. This was the defining moment that would shape their relationship. If she let go, she would be acknowledging that he controlled her. If he broke first, then she would be back to the antagonistic relationship she’d had with the citizen who claimed to own her.
    “Three… two… one…”
    He reached down with his other hand, clamped it around the back of her neck, and pulled her up from her hiding place with her teeth still on his hand. Sierra could not resist his grip; her muscles moved at his urging as he eased her up and out of the crate.
    Master Kade did not speak again as he drew her across open ground to the bench where he had sat before, one hand on the back of her neck, the other still firmly lodged in her mouth. Neither one of them was prepared to give any quarter, it seemed. Kicking, squirming, and squealing through her teeth, Sierra did not know what his intention was, she just knew she wanted him to give way first.
    It wasn’t until he sat down and used his grasp to angle her down and over his thighs that she realized she might be in some form of trouble. Giving way didn’t seem to be on his agenda; instead he held her prone body across his lap, wrapping his free arm around her waist whilst she continued to bite the other hand.
    “This is going to get quite painful for you if you don’t let go,” he informed her calmly. “I don’t want to have to discipline you, Sierra, but you’re not leaving me much choice.”
    Sierra didn’t listen to his words. Words were meaningless. All that mattered was the fact that she still had her toothy grip in place and he had not managed to dislodge her. She fancied she was winning.
    Without further warning, Master Kade slapped her on the bottom. It was not a hard slap, but it was enough to sting. Sierra was wearing a long shirt and short shorts, both made of silk. They were the only fine things about her. The citizen had always insisted that she wear nice things so that anyone coming to visit might be able to admire her shock of violet hair and pale blue eyes. The clothing provided precisely no protection against the hard flat of his hand as it began bounding off the rounds of her cheeks with rapidly increasing intensity.
    Sierra yelped around his hand and almost let go. Almost. Her mouth came off for a second as she let out an old swear word then clamped back down again.
    “You don’t want this to go on much longer,” he informed her, his deep voice rumbling down at her. “It’s going to start burning, and it won’t go away any time soon either. The longer I smack your bottom, the longer you feel the effects.”
    It was fair warning, but Sierra did not much appreciate it. The strong man could not be allowed to think that he could control her with his bulk, or with the striking of his hand. He had to know that she was unbreakable. Her jaw was starting to ache from the effort of sustaining the bite, and her bottom was much warmer than she liked it to be, but she persevered through the discomfort with the aim of impressing him with her resolve and puncturing him with the sharpness of her teeth. His skin was holding though. It was much tougher than the hide of most citizens, more conditioned to withstanding a bite from a wild thing.
    Sierra began to squirm to try to work some of the discomfort out of her cheeks and avoid some of the slaps that seemed to land in the same place over and over