Taming the Raven's Son (Galactic Lust) Read Online Free Page B

discipline.”
    “Discipline? You’d have to have some authority over me to
claim what you did was discipline. I don’t know you. You don’t own me. What you
did was plain and simple. Abuse. Cruelty. Mistreatment. Unprovoked violence.”
    “Not unprovoked. You brought that on yourself by tempting
Sovereign’s anger. You’re damn lucky he gave me the whip. We might not be
having this conversation had either he or his assistant whipped you.”
    The fight drained from her as self-pity took its place. She
knew deep down the situation could’ve been a lot worse. Tears gathered in her
eyes. He’d never see them because she wouldn’t look up. She didn’t owe him any
explanations but found herself compelled to offer one.
    “I’d been awake less than a moment. I found myself in
strange surroundings.” She swallowed hard after uttering the excuse. The whiny
tone of her voice made her stomach turn. She sounded so…hurt.
    Suck it up and shut up. Don’t give him any more
ammunition.
    His fingers touched her upper arm, stroking her. The gesture
didn’t reassure her. It managed to deepen the recently opened well of misery.
    “I asked before and you didn’t answer me. How long have you
been a submissive?”
    “Are you referring to my kidnapping? Or the part where I was
restrained and beaten? You’ll have to be more specific.” A bit of defiance
crept into her voice. She sounded more like herself. A woman who wouldn’t allow
herself to be weak.
    “You don’t practice that lifestyle?”
    “No. Never. All I’d hoped for was a vacation. I didn’t
bargain for any of this. I deserved an uneventful luxury cruise filled with
boredom and rest. I’m not into kissing up to some asshole and ‘yessing’ him to
death while he spanks my ass and leads me around on a short leash. In fact, I
run a galactic enterprise. If I partook in that sort of thing, I’d make
sure I was the one in control.”
    He smiled. The arrogant gargantuan didn’t believe her.
“Seriously?”
    She crossed her arms, hugging the soft fabric of his shirt
against her belly, and closed her eyes. It became easier and easier to turn
back into a bitch. The conversation was over as far as she was concerned.
    “Which corporation?”
    She wouldn’t impress him even if she offered the name of the
company. Certainly in his mind, anything he did would be bigger and better.
She’d seen his type before. Big on brawn, adept at arrogance and short on
intelligence. Those particular types of men thrived in the business world. More
than one of them had attempted to unseat her as the head of Bastillous
Corporation. They’d taken a long fall down the corporate ladder too.
    How in the hell will I get out of this mess?
    “You won’t give me the name?”
    “Look, I didn’t bargain for any of this. Where I come from
wouldn’t matter. After all, I’m just a dumb woman, right?”
    His arms tightened into a vice before he shook her. “Don’t
ever refer to yourself as dumb.”
    Surprised by the source of his anger, she asked, “Why? Isn’t
that what you plan to do to me? Treat me like some mindless pet? Beat me if I’m
bad and give me a treat if I’m good?”
    He stood, turned and placed her upon the cot before stepping
away. She wanted to take back every word she’d uttered. What had possessed her
to challenge him? She swallowed, preparing for more pain because by the scowl
on his face, she was in for a doozy of a reprimand.
    He crossed his stocky arms and leaned on the bars of the
cell. Muscles rippled in his abdomen and upper arms. She curled her legs and
rested against the wall. She tried like a fiend to appear comfortable and
relaxed as she scooted off center, placing her weight on her hip and not her ass.
    The cot beneath her moved and the angle of the room changed.
She gulped air, not enjoying the motion of the ship as it breached the
atmosphere of her new temporary predicament. With her luck, this one would be
worse than the last.
    She flinched when he