Page 275 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

“Or what? I want to make sure you understand.”

It took her a few frantic seconds to realize he wanted her to repeat his threat and she could feel embarrassed heat rising to the surface, underneath her short pelt. “You’ll—” she got stuck on the words and it was a struggle to continue while he looked more and more impatient.

“Maybe you need your first lesson now, then?” he suggested.

That was enough of a threat to get her talking. “If I don’t obey, you’ll beat my ass,” she blurted. In truth, she wasn’t even sure what that would consist of, but she knew she didn’t want to find out.

“Good girl. I know it’s a shock, but that’s how it is out here. You belong to me, and I’ll teach you how to survive. Just keep in mind I only give one warning, and I don’t make idle threats,” he said.

A shiver rolled down her back because she absolutely believed him, but she also knew she had to try to escape the first chance she got.

He watched her for a second, like he was looking for some sign that she was going to behave. “By the way, my name is Jahk.”

Jahk. It was rough, harsh, and she decided it suited him.

Chapter Five

In retrospect, she should have listened, or at least waited until she learned her way around, but she’d been afraid to stay. Not afraid of him, at least not exactly. He wasn’t the monster his first impression had made him out to be and when he’d taken her back to his cave, he’d actually treated her like a person.

It seemed as though he’d felt it necessary to scare her first, but once she seemed to be complying, he was able to relax. The cave was warm and well-insulated. It was clear he’d lived there a long time. Everything was organized and tidy.

He settled her by a fire pit, and within a couple minutes had stirred the coals to life. He put a pot of water on to boil and while it was heating, he dug through the coals and embers to produce some roasted tubers that were steaming hot and already cooked through.

Her stomach growled and she eagerly took the wooden plate he offered. She couldn’t wait until it cooled enough and burnt her mouth on the first bite. “This is so good,” she moaned. It had only been three or four days without real cooked food, but she couldn’t remember ever eating anything that was so simply prepared, yet so delicious. “Yadri root, right? Never seen one so big and it has a sweetness,” she mumbled through a full mouth.

He seemed surprised she’d recognized it. “Yeah, things grow better when they aren’t locked away in a dome.”

She gave him a side-glance. “People too, I guess.” He was at least a foot taller than anyone from the colony. She was taller than most, but he still dwarfed her by nearly a foot.

“Guess that’s true too.” He laughed and knocked a tuber out of the coals for himself. He skipped the primitive plate and tossed the food from hand to hand to keep it from burning.

It was comical to watch and she found herself relaxing. She snuck glances at him from time to time as she ate and from the fleeting looks, she was able to put together an image of a handsome male, though rough looking and scarred. His pelt seemed darker than hers, though in the flickering firelight she couldn’t tell for sure.

He appeared to be older than she was, but living rough might have aged him. She wondered what his story was. Hardly anyone was exiled anymore, so he’d clearly been out there a long time. Her sneaky looks weren’t as subtle as she’d hoped and eventually, he called her on it.

“Like what you see?” he asked. There was a hint of mocking in the words and she quickly dropped her eyes.

“Sorry, I was just curious.” She hesitated and then, “I guess you’ve been out here a while.”

“I’ve never lived in your colony. I was born out here,” he said, shrugging.

Her head jerked up in surprise and she stared, “But …” The word trailed off into silence as a flood of questions filled her mind.

“But?” One eyebrow rose in question.

She swallowed hard. “I thought—they said exiled men were sterilized. To—to keep them from being, uh, aggressive.”

He stared at her and then snorted. “You should probably know by now the people running things over there lie a lot.” He paused, seemingly considering it. “Might be that they sterilize a few. I couldn’t say, but a lot of the people live out here on the fringe by choice. They left the colony intact. Plenty of families around. My parents came here on the ship and they didn’t like the direction things were going, so they left.”

“I would never risk having children out here.” The words exploded from her mouth in shock. She couldn’t even imagine.

He gave her an amused look. “You think you’ll get a choice on that? What are you going to do when the birth control runs out and you go into heat?” He chuckled.

She set her plate down, the last bit of food uneaten, and sat back to roll that new information over in her mind. It had never occurred to her that she might end up facing pregnancy, without the doctors and clinic to keep her safe. She pictured herself giving birth in the dirt and found the idea horrifying.

But he was right. Birth control implants had to be replaced yearly. Without one to control her cycles she would eventually revert to a normal heat cycle and then she’d breed whether she liked it or not. All of that was suppressed in the colony of course. Pregnancies there were planned and rarely did the implants fail between, but hers hadn’t been replaced on her birthday.

The clinic would have removed it from her thigh, but she might already be fertile. Even if she wasn’t, it was only a matter of time. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she said.

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