She does, but she takes her time. And while I wait, her words echo in my head. I’m not a good girl, my king. I’m very, very bad.
“You are a filthy Fuckling, Cadee Hunter.” I point to my knee. “Lie down the way I taught you to take your punishment.” Then I look at Jack. He is so focused on Cadee as she places herself across my lap with my knee between her legs that it takes him several seconds to realize I’m waiting for his attention. Finally, his gaze migrates up to meet mine. Then he nods his approval.
He warned me earlier that this ritual was a very big deal. He didn’t fully explain that, but he did say that the members in the room will vote on our performance before they leave. Jack didn’t give me any directions other than that. But it seems whatever his standards were, we’ve met them.
“Lars,” I say, not even looking at him. “Pull her panties down to the middle of her thighs.”
He does this without question. Several of the men in the room are starting to breathe heavier now that they have an unobstructed view of her ass.
This pisses me off even more than it does when Lars and Ax have their turn with Cadee because these men are no one to her. They are not part of our secret affair. They were never in the woods with us.
But I’m here to give them a show so that’s what I’m gonna do.
“Ax. Put your hand on her back and hold her down.” I look up at him. “I don’t care how fucking hard she struggles, you do not let her up. Do you understand me?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Your fucking wish is my command, right?”
“Right,” I agree. I lean into Cadee’s neck and say, “You can hate me for this if you want, but you started it.”
And then my hand comes down so hard on her ass, she yelps loud enough to startle the man closest to me.
Ax holds her down and I smack her again. And again. And again.
And then I stop and rub her ass, just the way I did that one time when we were still playing.
We’re not playing now.
She is sobbing hysterically two smacks later.
But when I direct Lars to check between her legs, his fingers come back wet.
I lean down into her neck again. But this time I don’t whisper. “You know what to do now, Cadee. I want you to come on my knee. And I want you to come hard.”
She hesitates.
Ax bends down, grabs her hair with both hands, and kisses her. I hear him whisper, “I’ll help you.”
Then Lars slips his fingers between her legs and says, “I’ll help you too.”
And I want to kill. Everyone.
But I can’t.
Because this is my game and they’re all just playing along.
I smack her again. Her cheeks are bright red. But she begins to move her hips across my knee.
I grit my teeth the whole time. And when Cadee Hunter comes all over my pants I am nothing but rage.
I throw her off me and she stumbles backward, falling on her bruised ass, squealing from the pain.
Then I point to Jack. “Go ahead. Jerk off if you want. I’ll wait.” I stare at him with narrowed eyes, daring him to take me up on that offer.
No one moves.
“Cadee.”
Her head slowly lifts up but she does not look at me.
“Come back over here. We’re not done yet.”
I reach for the bright blue Tiffany bag next to the throne while Cadee crawls back up to her velvet cushion and settles with her hands on her thighs and her head bowed.
I offer the gift to her. She takes it without a word. Pulls the tissue paper out of the bag and holds the square box in her hands.
I think I see a smile.
Tiffany. I mean, it’s not gonna make up for that shit show I just officiated, but it’s not bad, either.
At least that’s what I think. And then she opens the box and just stares dumbly down at the contents.
The collar is the exact same one that Jack put on Elizabeth at the harvest ritual. Hard, cold metal with no decorations.
I look over at him and he’s smiling. “Put it on her, Christopher. We’ve all got plans tonight. And your show was good, I’ll give you that, but we still need to vote.”
I clench my jaw and take the collar from Cadee’s hands. Lars pulls her to her feet and turns her around so her back is to me. Ax lifts up her hair to reveal her neck.
I place the collar around her neck, but the clamping mechanism barely reaches. I have to pull it quite hard to get the collar to lock in place.
Cadee gasps, then coughs, as her airway is slightly restricted.
Then I say, “Cadee Hunter, you belong to this collar now. You are its slave.”
Jack starts to clap. A slow clap at first. Then others join in and it turns into applause.
Leela appears from… somewhere. She lifts Cadee to her feet, covers her back up with the robe, and leads her out of the chapel.
Cadee is crying.
Hard.
And gasping for breath.
I want to go to her, but Jack pulls me back. “You will not see her tonight. Do you understand? She is not your wife, Cooper. She is your slave.”
“What happened to all those pretty words like ‘offering’ and ‘legacy?’”
Jack grins at me. “Just appearances, brother. This time next year Cadee Hunter will be pushing out a baby. Let’s all hope for a girl.” He turns to the men behind him. “Right? Girls!” He laughs and they laugh with him. “They make the world go round.” Then he turns back to me. “She is property, Cooper. She was born property. You had better come to terms with that, brother. We all have our parts to play. And you will play yours. Because if you don’t you will lose everything, Cooper. And I know you think you’re ready to walk away. But ask yourself this one question. Why are you still here?”
I don’t say anything. Obviously.
“Yeah,” Jack says, nodding his head. “And you can bet your ass I have not forgotten how badly you failed the last test. You did well this time. But there are more, Cooper. There will always be more tests. This will not be your last final exam.”
Again, I say nothing.
Jack pats me on the back. “Go eat dinner. Relax. Get drunk with your buddies. You owe them big.” He leans in for the ‘big’ part. “Because we’ve seen a million spankings, Cooper. But enlisting your best friends? Now that was clever. Don’t get me wrong. You’re a huge asshole for doing that and she will never look at you the same again. But it impressed the fuck out of us.”
“Come on,” Ax says, pulling on my arm. “Let’s go.”
I walk with him, but when I realize Lars isn’t coming with us, I stop and stare at him. “Really, Lars? Really?”
He just shrugs. And then he turns his back to me.
Ax pushes me to keep walking. Then he takes up the lead and carefully weaves a path through the house that avoids the front rooms where more people are gathered. The fathers and sometimes grandfathers of the men we just left. And their wives. If they’re still alive.
“I gotta see Cadee, Ax. I’m not leaving her like that.”
“You should just…” He sighs. “Let her be tonight.”
“It’s Christmas Eve. I just…” But I can’t go there. “And I put a collar on her. She can barely fucking breathe in that thing. And I have a real fucking gift too! I got her a ring. This is not how this night ends.”