Page 283 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

She twisted and turned, trying to see what it looked like and how obvious it was. At least, she thought, the skin is the same shade as the fur so maybe it won’t stand out too much. She did have the comfort of knowing that with her clothing on no one would know. And that bright thought made her feel better.

It was enough that she was able to face him with a confident look. “That wasn’t as bad as I expected,” she said, trying to sound like his punishment hadn’t bothered her. It was dangerous. It probably would have been smarter to go the other way and act completely miserable about it, but she found her pride wasn’t willing to do that.

“Don’t worry; it gets worse,” he assured her. It almost sounded like he was amused, although when she shot him a look, she couldn’t see the slightest hint of it on his face.

She wondered what he could possibly have planned that would be worse than he’d already done. He didn’t make her wait long to find out. He moved the bucket of water and the table out of the way and sat back down on his stump. Before she could ask what was happening, he took her by the wrist and pulled her right over his lap.

It felt awkward and ungainly to be sprawled across his thighs and she started to struggle. “What are you doing?” she demanded. But she knew exactly what he was doing. As much as she tried to make herself forget, she very clearly remembered that early threat to beat her ass. She’d hoped that the shaving was unconnected, but deep down, she’d known.

“I’m about to give you the spanking you deserve for running into danger and nearly getting yourself killed. Maybe after this you’ll take me seriously when I tell you that your soft colony life hasn’t prepared you to be out here on your own.” The voice was cold, and the words had a bite to them.

She deserved to be lectured for what she’d done, and she realized she’d never really shown him any gratitude for pulling her out of the pit and nursing her back to health. She’d just been too angry at being pulled back against her will and bossed around. The one bright spot about being exiled, she’d thought, would be that she would finally be able to do what she wanted.

“I know I owe you for saving my life, but you don’t understand. I didn’t want to be here when my heat came on. I didn’t want to be forced to breed.” She’d told him that before and it was probably pointless to repeat it, but she felt like he kept ignoring the fact that she had a very good reason for leaving.

“Mara, do you know what happens when a female goes into heat and there’s no male to breed with?” he asked, and it sounded like he was trying to be patient.

“I…” She stopped and frowned. She didn’t have any idea. It was something that had never been taught. What she knew about heats mostly came from the animals they raised and bred for food. “I figured it would last a few days, maybe a week, and then stop. Isn’t that what happens?” she asked, sounding unsure.

“No, Mara. That is not what happens.” He blew out an exasperated breath and she heard him muttering something about colonists being uneducated. It took him a minute to calm down before he explained. “If there’s no male around the heat doesn’t stop. Ever.”

“What? Never?” She jerked up and twisted to stare at him over her shoulder. She wasn’t even in full heat yet and she couldn’t wait for it to be over. The thought of it being a permanent part of her life made her sick to her stomach.

“Never. Your body is pumping out hormones like crazy to attract a mate and if you don’t get one, it just keeps going, until you get desperate. So desperate that you would leap on the first male you see. It wouldn’t matter if you liked him. It wouldn’t matter if he was cruel, or someone that would discard you when they were done, you would have no choice.”

“But they never told me that!” It really seemed like it was essential information to have, but then, if she’d remained in the colony she’d never have needed to know. His hand settled on her newly bared backside and the warmth of it caught her attention. The skin seemed so much more sensitive without the protective layer of fur and she tried hard not to think about what that would mean for the punishment.

“I was trying to tell you there was a lot you didn’t know yet, but you wouldn’t listen. Your plan to run off so far away that there were no males around would most likely have killed you. And that’s the best scenario. The heat would have taken over and driven you to keep moving until you found someone to breed with. There would be no stopping to eat or sleep. So, either you would find a male, or you’d just keep looking until you got sick and died.”

So, she’d almost killed herself twice then. Even if she’d gotten far enough away it wouldn’t have mattered when her own body was the enemy. Her eyes prickled with tears and she covered her face with both hands so he wouldn’t hear her sniffle.

“Does that sound like fun, Mara? Being in such desperation to mate that you can’t rest for a minute and then having to couple with the first male you find?”

She didn’t say anything, but apparently silence wasn’t acceptable. His hand slapped down on her bare cheek with a loud smacking sound. She jumped and let out a muffled yelp behind her hands. She could feel the print his large palm had left on her skin. It stung so vividly.

“Answer me.”

She didn’t need another slap to make the connection and she answered quickly to avoid a repeat. “No, it doesn’t sound like fun.”

“Did the colony teach you to run off into a new situation without learning anything first? If that’s what colony life is like, I pity all of you.” The words were practically dripping with derision.

But for all the colony’s faults, she had to admit this one was on her. She’d had a decent education, and while there was apparently a lot they’d left out, she had been taught to gather facts before making decisions. She’d failed at that this time and had let her emotions about feeling trapped do all the deciding for her.

“No, Jahk. It was just me being stupid.” She sighed.

His hand flashed down hard to land on the other cheek and her legs kicked up in surprise. “Stop that. You’re not stupid. You just made some bad decisions because you didn’t like the choices you were given. But sometimes life just isn’t fair and there’s nothing to be done but go along with it anyway.”

She sniffled again and nodded miserably. He must have decided that she’d been lectured enough because he put that aside and began to spank without words. It wasn’t especially long. She knew because she counted each one out in her head. It helped to keep her calm as the burning and heat built to overwhelming levels.

Seventeen slaps that landed with no discernable pattern or balance. The odd number bothered her so much she almost asked for another one to even it out, because it seemed wrong to end on such a strange number. But it had been enough to make his point.

When he let her up, both hands flew back to rub frantically at the scalded skin. The only thing she could compare the sensation to, was when she’d once accidentally sat on a nest of jabins as a child. The biting insects had swarmed inside her pants and bitten her all up and down the back of her legs. She hadn’t been able to sit comfortably for days.

This wasn’t nearly as painful, but the stinging ache was similar. And the smooth bare skin felt odd as it pulsed against her fingertips. It was so strange to be bare there; she couldn’t get over it. She found herself reaching back to touch frequently, though she tried to hide it when she saw him watching with amusement.

The effects of the spanking were gone by the next morning, but her bare backside remained as a reminder. She understood then. It wasn’t a reminder that she had been punished. It was that her bottom could be punished again easily at any time. He rarely missed a chance to slap her ass as she went by and that kept her constantly aware of the missing cushion that her pelt had provided. She couldn’t wait until her fur grew back.

As the days grew colder the signs of her heat became more extreme. She was no longer dreading the moment when he finally took her, on the contrary she wanted it. There was a hunger inside that she’d never known before.

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