The Commander's Daughter Read Online Free Page A

broad shoulder.
    The human male eyed the scene with obvious concern. “Mel, will you be okay? Should I get your dad?”
    “Concern yourself not with my mate, earth man. I will see to all her needs, including necessary discipline,” Liam assured him.
    The earth man blinked, but seemed to understand this was not a situation in which he could interfere.
     
    * * *
     
    “Put me down this instant, Liam!” Melody cried and beat on the hard back beneath her with balled-up fists.
    “It would behoove you to stop this foolishness as it will only add to your punishment,” Liam explained calmly as he strode up the street as if walking with a yelling woman across his shoulder was an everyday occurrence.
    By the time he carried her back inside the house, Melody was almost hyperventilating with fury. It didn’t help to see Sassy, the generally protective dog, dancing around at Liam’s feet like he was part of their family.
    “Bite him, Sassy!” she commanded.
    Liam swatted her upturned bottom sharply for the order before setting Melody on her feet beside him in the foyer, “The dog recognizes from my scent that I am your mate so she will not attack me.”
    “Stop saying that!” Melody screamed up at him.
    Liam sighed and went down on one knee, tugging the still struggling girl over the other one. “You will not leave this house without an escort again. You will wear shoes that cover your feet outside this home and you will under no circumstances ever touch another male you are not related to.”
    His hand began to bounce off her jean-clad bottom with loud clapping smacks. Liam ignored the way she tried to wriggle away from his punishing palm as he built a fire in her backside he knew would not be quickly extinguished. He enjoyed watching her wriggling backside move as he delivered her spanking. Her curves bounced delightfully beneath his hand.
    “Owww… ohhh… please stop!” Melody wailed as Liam continued to build the heat in her bottom.
    Liam continued the same relentless rhythm, covering every inch of her bottom and moving down the top of her thighs. He paid special attention to the sit spot in the tender crease of her bottom, ensuring she would remember this discussion when she sat for the rest of the day.
    Melody was sobbing softly when he stood her back on her feet in front of him. “You will now go to your quarters and stay there for the remainder of the day.”
    She pulled away from him, wiping her tears away with an angry glare. “I hate you!”
    “This will not always be so,” he informed her indulgently, knowing it was not unusual for a woman to react thusly after correction.
     
    * * *
     
    Izzy and Grayson froze as they came out of their room in response to the sounds of Liam spanking their daughter.
    Melody ran up the stairs, stopping for a moment in front of them in the hallway outside of her bedroom. “Did you know?” she asked them softly.
    Izzy knew the discomfort on her face was all the answer her daughter needed.
    Melody gave them a look of betrayal before running into her room, slamming and locking it behind her.
    How could they have let her be blindsided by such a thing? She knew it was intolerable to think Liam had been acting as merely a guard for over a month and they had all known what he was to her. All of them had known and no one had even tried to warn her.
    Izzy felt so guilty that they could have betrayed their daughter in such a way. She knew Melody’s feelings must be terribly hurt by their actions.
    Izzy leaned gratefully into Grayson’s embrace. “Oh, Grayson, I feel we’ve done our daughter a great disservice in not telling her about Liam.”
    He sighed and placed a gentle kiss on her brow. “It will work out. God chooses our mates and he is never wrong.”
    She nodded and followed her husband downstairs to greet her new son-in-law.
     
    * * *
     
    Melody sat in the window seat of her bedroom with her legs folded beneath her as she looked outside. The stinging in her bottom