Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“No,” she whispered fiercely, shaking her head. “No, Sev—I won’t let you take this beating for me.”
She was already unbuttoning his white shirt—which fell almost to her knees—as though she was determined to bare herself for the punishment. Sev put his hands over her, stopping her trembling fingers.
“Baby, no,” he said earnestly. “There’s no way I’m letting them beat you. You’re too little—too fragile. I can take it a lot better than you.”
Mia shook her head.
“It’s my punishment,” she told him. “And I…I deserve it. I did what they said I did—I really was bad…and…and dirty.” As she spoke the words, her eyes overflowed and the tears slid down her flushed cheeks.
Sev thought his heart would burst.
“Baby girl, how can you say that—how can you even think it?” he asked her. “These people are crazy—fucked up in the head! I wouldn’t put up with their bullshit if they didn’t have blasters, but since they do and they want to hit someone, it’s going to be me they hit—not you. Never you, baby.”
“But—” she started to protest again.
“Stand at the edge of the stage and turn around—don’t look,” Sev directed her. “It’ll be over soon and then we’ll get out the fuck of here.”
He hoped, anyway. He didn’t know if the Elders had any other form of punishment planned, but if they did, he wanted to get Mia to safety first. He kissed Mia on the forehead and pushed his partner gently towards the edge of the stage, hoping she would obey his instructions. Then he allowed the robed and hooded Elders to lead him to the whipping post.
What else could he do?
FORTY-NINE
MIA
To Mia it seemed like the nightmare would never end. First she’d been stripped naked and accused—forced to relive her past. And then Sev had seen her shame too. It made her cringe to think that he’d witnessed the images of her touching herself intimately in the bathroom. But things kept getting worse and worse—now he was going to be whipped for her sins. Not just whipped but caned. It wasn’t fair!
But there didn’t seem to be anything she could do about it. Sev was led to the post they had set up in the center of the stage and his hands were manacled over his head—an act which required one of the Elders to stand on his chair in order to reach the tall warrior’s wrists.
Sev glared at them all as he was chained.
“I’m letting you do this but if you touch my wife while I’m chained up, I’ll rip these fucking manacles off this fucking pole and beat all your heads in with them!” he growled.
Mia thought the Elder chaining him paused for a moment but then the one with the deep voice said,
“I have told you, your wife will not be touched. She will simply watch as you are punished for her sins.”
Another surge of guilt stabbed Mia in the guts. Her fault—this was all her fault. She shouldn’t have tried to hide her overfull breasts from Sev—shouldn’t have tried to take care of the problem herself. She should have submitted to the milking at once instead of trying to put it off. And now Sev had to pay the price for her cowardice and lies.
It should be me, she thought as she watched the first Elder come up behind Sev, brandishing the heavy wooden cane. It looked more like a club to Mia—something that was meant to break bones as well as skin. The sight of it tightened her stomach and made her blood run cold.
“Let the Punishment commence!” the deep-voiced Elder called. “And let no man withhold his blow—this sin must never be forgotten!”
The Elder holding the cane drew back and hit Sev as hard as he could. Mia heard a muffled grunt from her partner and a wound opened on his broad, bare back. Though his skin was dark red, she could still see the blood trickling down.
“Very good,” the Elder with the deep voice called. “Who’s next?”
Another hooded figure stepped up and another blow fell…and then another and another. The beating was brutal—it would have broken a lesser man. But Sev stood strong, his head bowed stoically as he absorbed each blow. The only signs Mia could see that he was in any pain at all were those muffled grunts and the fact that his big hands had clenched into fists near the top of the post.
She wished she could look away—she knew Sev hadn’t wanted her to watch. But it didn’t seem fair—he was taking this beating for her, taking her pain and sin on himself. The least she could do was witness the punishment he was taking for her and his act of self-sacrifice.
I don’t deserve this—I don’t deserve him, she thought as the cane rose and fell…rose and fell. I’m nothing but a dirty, sinful girl who’s broken and stained inside. I don’t deserve a man like Sev. He ought to find someone else—someone who isn’t so fucked up. He—