Page 29 of Depraved
My back straightens despite the pain that briefly sloshes through my ribs. My muscles coil, and my arm lifts. I don’t want to do this. But I can’t control the way my arm lifts like an invisible crane is tugging it up.
Black holds Elena firmly in place with one arm across her back. He’s unbothered by her flailing and has her pinned down tight so she can’t kick. “Elena, every time Jonah spanks you, you’re going to tell him you love him.”
He doesn’t put the command in his voice when he talks to Elena, which is confusing. Except for the fact that maybe he knows she’d spend the entire time fighting the magic of the command. But those words. Why would he have her say those words to me?
I don’t have an answer before my hand starts falling, compelled to spank her. “You are the luna. And I’m the beta elite.” The words spill from my lips.
Elena squeaks and then hisses, struggling, messing up the covers and making the bed shake.
I stare in horror at my own hand, fully expecting her to spew curse words at me for hitting her.
“Your turn,” Black tells her.
“Fuck off,” she retorts. But then she says, “I love you anyway, Jonah. I know you don’t want to do this.”
Relief cascades through me because I really don’t. I’m glad she knows it.
“Thirty spankings,” Black tells me.
“Thirty! There were twenty-two—” Elena’s argument cuts off as I watch my hand smack down against her pants and make her ass bounce. I don’t think I even intentionally moved it. I’m just so far down the chain that an alpha command seizes control of my muscles.
But the fact that it’s affecting me means his wolf is stronger than me. It means he assumes I’m still in his chain of command. My body and my wolf—who currently wants to go up and lick Black’s face in submission until he ends this horrible punishment—agree. I’m Black’s puppet. And it’s worse than I ever expected because he’s going to drive an even bigger wedge between my mate and me. How can she even look at me after this?
I glance up, and the alpha’s eyes are studying me. He cocks a knowing brow, as if he’s been waiting for me to catch up. Catch up to what?
“You are the luna. And I’m the beta elite.” The words pour from my mouth robotically.
Black looks disappointed.
“I love you Jonah, despite the fact that we’re locked into a pack with the most arrogant—” My hand comes down again, on an automatic timer of its own. “—Dammit!” she snarls.
“You are the luna.” That part of my forced statement, I can believe. Elena’s got all the confidence and fire in the world. She’s perfect for the role of luna. The fact that she’s an omega only adds to the mystique, but she would be a perfect luna even without that. “I’m the beta elite.” That phrase is the one that’s bullshit. I’m a beta, yes. But there is no such thing as a beta elite. Not any more than there is a Santa Claus.
“Jonah, I remember the first time you made me come. It was so intense I almost screamed in surprise. I love you.” Elena turns her head on the mattress so I can see half of her face from underneath the waterfall of her dark hair.
I blink, distracted from my bitterness. I hadn’t known that. Is she telling the truth? Why would she say something like that? Something so intimate when I’m hurting her?
But then I notice her legs spread a little wider. Her breathing is shallow. I’m not certain I’m hurting her.
When I glance up at Black, his glance is cocky.
I spank her again, my words automatic. This time, I barely hear my own voice. I’m just waiting to see what she’ll say.
“I love you more than chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven.”
Another.
“I love you more than the circulatory system, which was my favorite to study.”
Another.
“I love you more than moonlight.”
I slap her ass and say my lines, blinking a little extra when my eyes grow damp as her confessions grow less silly and more real.
“I love you and your family and how your house is like a Hallmark movie because you make me long for a happy ending like that.”
The ache that’s been present in my ribs since the second I saw her with Black recedes a little, and I give her a half-grin even as my hand falls and smacks her left butt cheek soundly. I say my lines.
