Claiming Their Maiden Read Online Free Page A

arousal. What a beast he was to become aroused as he chastised her, and so
    unfairly at that.
    “You will apologize to my brother in the morning, sweetling. We might seem a bit
    barbaric to you, but we aren’t so uncivilized and disrespectful as to slap you in the face, and we
    expect the same propriety from you.”
    “You can shove your propriety up your ass!” she screamed, unable to hold her tongue.
    Her whole life, people had mostly avoided her due to her smart mouth. She was sweet when it
    suited her, and sour and spiteful when it suited her as well. A personality for each situation. She
    should’ve been born in a larger village with more culture, or perhaps a city far away, and she
    could’ve been a fine actress. Instead, she’d grown up as an orphan in a poor village cut off from
    all other villages, an outcaste among outcastes. Lonely among the lonely.
    Heat seared her bottom, and the stinging blows didn’t cease falling. Gavin spanked her
    thoroughly, pelting both her cheeks from top to bottom, and the pain soon caused tears to prick
    in her eyes. The instant she felt moisture on her face, her tears finally falling, she hated him all
    the more. Despite her increasing hatred, she didn’t have the energy to keep squirming. She was
    exhausted, spent from the ordeal of her trek through the forest, almost dying, and then waking up
    the captive of two strangers—Banded Men who thought she was a gift from the Goddess.
    Her tears began to flow freely, and she buried her face in the clean, soft bedcovers. She’d
    stopped thrashing her legs, and now she simply hoped Gavin would take pity on her and end her
    punishment. No one had ever spanked her before. She’d been slapped in the face plenty, pushed
    around, and even kicked a few times, but never spanked. It was horrible, but at the same time
    different than all the other physical hurts she’d suffered through. This one hurt her heart the
    most, and she wasn’t sure why. Was it because he meant to teach her a lesson in manners?
    No. It couldn’t be. She’d just met Gavin. And she hated him. Oh, how she hated him to
    the moon and back.
    “Are you sorry for disrespecting my brother?” Gavin asked, pausing with his hand
    covering her tender, flaming backside.
    Amelia didn’t respond, keeping silent with her friends Pride, Anger, and Obstinacy.
    “Very well.” He pushed her nightdress up until it bunched around her waist, and parted
    the slit of her drawers. The cool air kissed her heated flesh, but instead of soothing the burn, it
    seemed to reignite it. She whimpered at the pain, and shame washed over her. He could see her
    bare bottom, no doubt bright red, and she felt his cock twitching and growing larger still beneath
    her stomach.
    “I—I might be sorry,” she said tentatively. She didn’t want a bare-bottom spanking, and
    now she was beginning to question if her behavior had indeed been rude.
    “You might be sorry?” he asked, rubbing her flesh. The skin-to-skin contact rattled her
    senses. Why did his touch feel intimate? Was she so starved for physical contact? She brushed
    the questions aside, instead focusing on her supposed misdeed.
    “Perhaps I shouldn’t have slapped Trent in the face,” she offered.
    “He risked his life to save yours, sweetling.”

    She sighed. “I know. But I don’t believe the Goddess gives people away as gifts. It’s
    preposterous. She makes the world grow, plants, animals, and people, but I don’t think she
    interferes in our lives that way.”
    “Have you ever prayed to the Goddess before?”
    “Yes, but that’s not the point. I can’t help it. When I’m in trouble, I sometimes pray. Or
    when I’m thankful. It’s habit, I guess.”
    “My brother and I prayed for a sign, a sign to lead us to the right woman we’d share the
    rest of our lives with. None of the woman born to the Banded called to us.”
    “There are more of you?”
    “Yes. We’re scattered through the forest. Small communities here