Page 49 of Seducing Selena

“We laid out the rules, princess. You’re the one who chose to break them. And in every world, there are consequences for breaking the rules. But in this one, they’re immediate and painful. Try not to brace yourself. It makes it worse.”

Why do you care?

I flinched away from the words even as I thought them, because they didn’t ring true. He was the one who held me and praised me after yesterday’s test, and for the rest of the day, they’d kept me close and simply let me be with them. No training and no punishments. Either sitting at their feet, or occasionally on their lap, and it was comforting.

But today felt different, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t know anything. I was losing myself. It was a hard thing to accept, but more than all the other shitty choices I didn’t have in this situation, that was the one which was the most difficult to accept.

My own soul was untethering itself, and I didn’t know where it would end up. Adrift on the sea of these Alphas and the whims of their world.

The sound registered before the feeling.

Crack!

A line of fire across my upper shoulder that somehow felt right. Not like a punishment, but like an external validation of the confusion and swirling uncertainty inside. It was pain, and yet it wasn’t painful. Not truly.

Somehow, it was a relief.

Because Ihadchosen it. In spite of my genuine fear, I knew telling them no would result in action, and I wanted to do something. I’d chosen this when I didn’t think there was a way to choose anymore.

So every stripe of pain was a reminder that I still had choices in the fog of gray uncertainty and confusion.

The implements changed. Varying degrees of intensity and sensation. All over my back, my ass, even over my breasts. I savored the bite and the familiar floating place it took my mind to. Here, there was an impossible, strange sense of joy and synergy between Sebastian and me. Before the hits landed I could almost sense them, and I felt connected to him. There was no anger in his energy, and though this was meant to be a punishment, it didn’t feel that way.

My body wilted, hanging from my restraints when my knees could no longer support me, and the blows finally stopped. My skin was warm and extra sensitive as Seb wrapped his arm around me and unhooked my wrists, taking my weight and lowering me to the floor.

In front of me, I saw Derek and Nick talking to Delano. I didn’t want to see him. He could go fuck himself. He made everything worse. He was the reason things were bad. I felt it in my gut.

Sebastian picked me up and carried me away. I stayed limp, my brain so much happier than it had been. It didn’t make sense, but the way he held me, what he’d done…

I chose not to question. Being in his arms was a miracle in itself, and I curled deeper into them, burrowing into scent and warmth. His fingers curled around me with nothing but tenderness. “I have to put you down for a second, princess. I’ll be right back.”

Softness pressed against my skin. Some sort of blanket, and I was on a couch. A couch? Blinking my eyes open, I found myself in a small corner of the club. Near the elevator to go upstairs. The door to the kitchen was right there, and through it, the door to the storage room. We’d walked through it several times now. I knew where it was.

I closed my eyes again, resting.

“You seem like you need a companion.” An unfamiliar voice said. I dragged my eyes open and found a pair of jeans in front of my eyes.

I didn’t know who he was, the cloying,blazingscent of burnt lavender coming off him. “No.”

He laughed. “I wasn’t asking.”

The blanket was pulled off me, and he stroked a hand down my back. I moved, trying to wiggle away, but there wasn’t really room on the couch, and I was still cloudy enough I didn’t know if I could stand and run. “Don’t touch me.”

“You’ll have a good time with me… and my friend.” This wasn’t Delano, but he was an Alpha, and I didn’t want him near me any more than I wanted the other snake. His touch felt like poison.

“Stop.”

He pulled on me, and I fell to the floor, pain radiating through my knees, hips, and elbows.

The man was ripped off me and shoved against the wall, a hand at his throat, squeezing. Sebastian was there like a dark avenging angel made of fury. “Did I say you could touch my slave?”

The Alpha’s voice choked out. “I didn’t know she was yours.”

“Oh, I see. But being insidemyclub, you surely recognize what those cuffs mean, don’t you?”

No answer.

“Don’t you?”

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