A Short Leash Read online

  “That should clean right up,” he said, his voice making her senses tingle. “This might sting a little. Is that okay?”

  “Mm-hmm,” Sierra said, squirming ever so slightly. There was the scent of alcohol and then a soft wet sensation on the back of her neck as the doctor began to swab the wound. The sting set in a moment later and made her hiss through her teeth, but she stayed still and let him finish cleaning away whatever might have been inflicted through the bite.

  “And there was a tree involved at some point?” The doctor settled a bandage over the back of Sierra’s neck. “What happened there?”

  “She ran into a tree,” Kade said, giving a short but accurate explanation of events.

  “That would explain this bruise,” Dr. Charles said, focusing on the left side of her face. He moved around to face her, his hands on either side of her on the bed as he looked deep into her eyes. “Do you feel dizzy?”

  “A little,” Sierra said honestly. It wasn’t the impact with the tree that was causing her feelings, but the proximity of the very handsome doctor who was taking very tender care of her.

  “Let’s check that out,” he said, patting her knee. “I’m going to shine a light in your eyes and check that your pupils are reacting normally.”

  Sierra glanced over at Kade. His expression was hard to read, but that didn’t stop her from throwing him a little smirk as Dr. Charles picked up his little light and started flashing it near her eyes.

  “I think you’re going to be alright,” he said after a moment or two. “But we’ll keep an eye on you.”

  “While we’re here, do you mind giving her a full examination?” Kade spoke up. “She’s never had one.”

  Sierra watched the doctor as he nodded, his dark hair falling into his eyes momentarily in a way that made her want to brush it away.

  “Never seen a doctor before?” He turned to Sierra, his cheek dimpling as he smiled reassuringly.

  “No,” she said. “Well, there was a medicine man in the village, but that wasn’t the same.”

  “I imagine not,” Dr. Charles replied. “This will be different from what you’re used to, but none of it will cause you any pain.”

  Sierra looked over his shoulder at Kade. “That would make a nice change,” she said pointedly. “Citizens don’t usually care how much pain they cause.”

  Kade shook his head at her. “Poor little pet,” he drawled without any real sympathy.

  Dr. Charles chuckled and took her wrist in his hand, holding it lightly between his fingers as he looked at the timepiece on the wall. After a few seconds his hand left hers. “Good,” he said. “Strong pulse. Let’s see what your blood pressure is like.” He picked up a long piece of plastic-looking fabric. “This goes around your upper arm, and I pump it up with air. It will feel tight, but it tells me how hard your heart has to work to pump the blood around your body.”

  Sierra let him put the object around her arm and sat quite still as the doctor inflated it. She was so entranced by the man that she was not at all concerned by the strange apparatus, which felt like a thick snake coiling about her bicep. The sensation only lasted a moment before the doctor removed it.

  “Low,” he said to Kade. “And she’s underweight too.”

  “I took her from a private owner,” Kade explained. “He didn’t take terribly good care of her. She’s put on quite a bit of weight since she first came in.”

  “She could do with more,” Dr. Charles said. “A few treats are in order, I think.”

  “Treats,” Sierra repeated approvingly. She very much liked this Dr. Charles. His philosophies seemed to align much more with hers than Kade’s did. “And no more of this collar,” she said, thumbing the thick strap about her neck. “It’s giving me medical issues.”

  “Medical issues, hmm?”

  “Yes,” she nodded.

  “It wouldn’t be necessary if she wasn’t given to running off and into trees,” Kade interjected. “She’s all sweetness and light right now, but she just led two pets and three hunters on quite a chase.”

  “Is that so?” Dr. Charles gave Sierra a look that made her grin unrepentantly and squirm even though her bottom was not at all sore. That was the one small mercy of the collar’s mechanism; it left no residual discomfort.

  “Maybe,” she admitted. Dr. Charles did not seem like the stern sort, but there was a certain twinkle in his eye that told her he was probably quite capable of enforcing his will if it were necessary for him to do so.

  “If you learn to stay with Master Kade, then you won’t need the collar,” he said quite reasonably.

  “Or if I escape,” Sierra said. “Then I won’t need it either.” She spoke somewhat teasingly. In that moment she wasn’t sure she would have run away even if she could have. Dr. Charles’ blend of warmth and handsomeness was more than attractive enough to keep her in his orbit.

  “Escape, hmm? Has Kade not shown you the benefits of being a pet yet?”

  “You know me,” Kade replied. “I’m a stick first, carrot later sort of man. Sierra is still in the stick phase of her training.”

  Sierra cut her eyes at him. She did not like the way he was making her sound as if she was terribly badly behaved. In her opinion she put up with a great deal from him—the indignity of the collar, the presence of other pets, the myriad rules… it was all much more than she wanted to bear.

  “Well,” Dr. Charles said. “Maybe she can have a treat now for being so good through the examination.”

  He opened a drawer and pulled out what looked like a thick black square of foil.

  “Here,” he said, handing it to her. “Tell me what you think of this.”

  Sierra held it in the palm of her hand and looked at it quizzically. She was not at all sure what to do with it, until Dr. Charles took it from her briefly, tore the black foil to reveal something deep brown in color and placed that back in her hand.

  “Taste it,” he said as she gave him a doubtful look. “It’s good.”

  It didn’t look good, but she liked Dr. Charles and she wanted to try it for him. He looked so hopeful. Lifting the little dark button to her lips, she gave it a tentative nibble. A new taste broke over her tongue and a second later, a rushing swell of well-being rushed through her body.

  She stared at Kade and Dr. Charles with wide eyes as they both beamed at her. “What is this?”

  “It’s called chocolate,” Dr. Charles said. “One of those treats I was talking about.”

  The chocolate was like heaven in food form. She put the whole thing in her mouth and chewed, making a moaning sound as the taste washed across her tongue and yet more pleasure washed through her body. Sierra had not known such a powerful food existed. This was beyond mere sustenance; this was some sort of advanced marvel.

  “More?”

  Dr. Charles gave her another piece. This time she had no trouble breaking through the foil to get to the sweetness within.

  “Only two though,” he said. “There’s a lot of energy in those little packets.”

  She believed him. It tasted like pure energy and sunshine and everything good in the world. “Is there more of this at your house?”

  “Are you asking me?” Kade chuckled. “Or are you trying to go home with Dr. Charles?”

  Sierra blushed as both men laughed. Dr. Charles and Kade seemed to share an easy camaraderie of the kind that is only formed over many years of association. Unlike the other hunters who showed Kade no end of deference, Charles was much more relaxed, treating Kade as an equal and a friend.

  He turned to Kade. “Keep an eye on her. If she shows any signs of slurring speech or being unnaturally sleepy or any coordination issues, give me a call and I’ll come out and see you both. She’s a good little patient.”

  *

  “I’m a good little patient,” Sierra grinned on the way out. She had a handful of chocolate courtesy of Dr. Charles and had given him her assurance she would not run into any more trees any time soon.

  “You were ve
ry good for the doctor,” he said, patting her bottom gently. “Before that you were a complete hellion. Don’t think we won’t be addressing that once I’m certain you’re not concussed. I will not have you running away, and I will certainly not have you ignoring your collar.”

  In spite of her aching head, Sierra grinned. “It wasn’t very effective, was it?”

  “It wasn’t on a terribly high setting,” Kade informed her. “It could have been much more painful. I thought you were more sensible than that. When we get home I’ll take that collar off and you’ll get a real spanking.”

  “I will not,” Sierra said, immediately contrary.

  “You will,” Kade said, putting just enough pressure on the leash to let her feel it. There was no rough tug or sharp yank, just a gentle and insistent weight that made her veer slightly in her steps and reminded her that he was ultimately in control.

  The day’s events had not left her terribly receptive to the idea. Seraphine and Kara might simper at Kade’s feet, but Sierra had greater aspirations.

  Chapter Six

  Three days later, consequences came to Sierra. It was apparent that she had not suffered any long-term effects from her altercation with Seraphine and the tree, and Kade had summoned her for discipline. She had gone obediently, hoping it might lessen the punishment he had been growling on about all that time. He was very much displeased with her having run away and he was not inclined to let her forget about it. Three days of lecturing and confinement to her room culminated over his thighs, where Sierra had surrendered herself in the hopes he would stop going on about her misdeeds. Unfortunately, that was not working. He kept lecturing as he spanked and Sierra only became more defiant as her bottom grew more heated. She had enjoyed her freedom, and she had enjoyed the doctor too. She would not apologize for satisfying her instincts.

  “Bad girl,” he chided, his palm landing on one bare cheek and then the other, imparting physical sting that would not abate the moment the stimulation stopped. “You’ve really been testing the limits lately,” he said. “But what you have to learn is that limits hurt when they’re enforced—and I always enforce them.”

  “I don’t care,” Sierra squealed as she squirmed. “I would do it all again! All again!”

  “Defiant little brat,” Kade growled, upping the intensity of his swats until each of them made her feel as though a fresh fire was being lit against her bottom. “I have let my good nature get the better of me with you.”

  He tipped her up to a standing position and told her to stay put whilst he went for his leather strap. The mistake was in telling her what he was going to do, for Sierra had no intention of waiting to be strapped. The moment he was out of eyesight she wiggled underneath the couch, taking refuge beneath the leather skirt, which hid her to perfection.

  “Sierra. Come out. Now.”

  His tone was clipped and stern. He was not finding her disobedience amusing, but Sierra was riding high on a combination of residual chocolate and the excitement of the day. She was also fairly confident that he had absolutely no idea where she had gone. She had picked her hiding spot weeks earlier and saved it for a situation that might necessitate it. This was such a situation.

  “Sierra. If you don’t come out this instant, I will put this leather strap away…”

  Sierra liked that idea.

  “…and take a cane to your bottom instead.”

  A cane. Aside from the collar, Sierra had never encountered such an implement before. She gathered by the fact that he was threatening her with it that it was supposed to be somewhat fearsome. Thinking back over her experiences with Kade, she did not think it would be so terrible. He was not given to cruelty, no matter how much he growled. She stayed still, her breathing shallow as the room fell silent.

  Had he left? The carpet muffled footsteps so it was quite difficult to tell where he was precisely. The leather skirts of the couch also blocked scent fairly effectively, so she was completely unable to tell where he was.

  A hunter’s forte was in being able to wait out its prey, Sierra knew that. She was prepared to wait as long as was necessary to… hm. It occurred to her that she hadn’t really come up with an end game for this gambit.

  “You’re going to have to come out eventually,” Kade said, catching her thought. “And when you do, I will be waiting, as will my cane. I’m going to get dinner started.”

  How anticlimactic. Sierra pouted at the carpet. Her bottom hurt and was going to hurt more and now she wasn’t even getting the thrill of Kade’s attention. They had played this game before of course; last time she had given in to his little game. This time she was not going to. This time she was going to stay under the couch until such time as he had to come looking for her.

  Waiting Kade out was not the most interesting thing Sierra had ever done. The first hour or so she spent thrilled with herself and the excitement of getting away with something. The hour following that was a little difficult as she grew hungry and thirsty, but those sensations faded as she fell asleep.

  It was dark when she woke up, still under the couch and with the insistent need to relieve herself.

  Risking Kade, she crept to the bathroom. She emptied her bladder successfully, but the moment she stepped outside the door, Kade took hold of her, his hand snaking out of the darkness and wrapping about her upper arm with serpentine swiftness.

  “What are you doing?” Sierra squeaked with surprise.

  “It’s three in the morning,” he said. “As good a time for a caning as any.” Looking into his face, Sierra saw that she had perhaps gone a little too far. His expression was imposing and stern, his energy serious. Kade was not a man who enjoyed disobedience and she had been disobeying him for days on end. The last few hours had not improved his temper at all. Though he was controlled as always, she could tell that he was not going to show her any mercy.

  “But you said…”

  “I said I would wait you out, and I have,” Kade said, spinning her around. She was only wearing her short tunic and her bare bottom was completely vulnerable as he began slapping the rounds of her cheeks hard. “You need to learn that running won’t work and hiding won’t work. The only thing that will ever work for you is doing as you’re told,” he informed her as he warmed her bare cheeks back to a well-spanked state.

  Squirming in his grasp, Sierra tried to escape, but it was not possible to do so. Kade hauled her into the living room and pressed her forward over the back of the couch.

  “Stay.” He ground the order out in such dire tones that Sierra didn’t dare move. Play time was most certainly over. With her palms on the cushions, her toes inches away from the floor and her bottom displayed high over the padded back, she began to think she might have made a mistake somewhere along the line.

  Kade’s hand settled on her lower back, grabbing her tunic to hold her in place as he brought the fearful implement swishing through the air.

  When it made contact with her flesh it bit hard, like a wild animal. Sierra turned and snapped her teeth at it more out of reflex than anything. Her reaction did nothing to stop the second stroke landing just as hard as the first, but about an inch below it. She yowled in response, pure instinct taking over as she began squirming for escape. There was none. The cane landed a third time as she wriggled about, complaining loudly and incoherently.

  “I know this burns,” Kade rumbled. “But you have earned each and every stroke you get many times over.”

  With that less than comforting statement, he slapped the cane against her bottom again. This time it cut across lines already laid, producing an intense hellfire sting and a screech from Sierra. How many times was he going to subject her to this unbelievable welting pain?

  A fifth time, evidently, and then a sixth, until Sierra’s bottom was not just hot and sore, but completely ablaze. She gasped and writhed beneath his hand, which still held her in place though the caning appeared to have ceased for the moment. It didn’t matter. Her bottom burned on without the need for further str
okes. Her entire nervous system was alight with the rushing consequences of the vicious thing, which had hurt far more than any of Seraphine’s bites.

  “Deep breaths,” Kade said, his voice intruding on her pain as he released her.

  Sierra popped up from the couch and onto her feet like a jackrabbit. She turned to him, her face contorted with outrage and disbelief.

  “I hate you!”

  She meant the words. They erupted from her in a torrent of loathing propelled by the blaze in her behind. There was no point in rubbing it; even getting her fingers near it made things much worse. Her bottom reacted to the proximity of her hand, the muscles of her cheeks pulsing and quivering of their own accord. “How could you do that!” Hot tears stung her eyes in outrage.

  “I did it because the consequences of you disobeying me can be deadly,” Kade said, gently brushing the hair out of her eyes. “If you think this hurts, I assure you that being lost, or caught by another hunter, or accidentally killed is much worse. I need to know that when I tell you to do something, you do it. What if you’d run into a trap or a snare? You didn’t know what was out there. You ran off blindly.”

  “You did it because you’re mean and cruel and awful,” Sierra said, using all the words she knew. “You’re a bad man.”

  “And you’re a spoiled, upset girl who doesn’t like experiencing the consequences of your actions,” Kade replied. “Go to your room and go to bed.”

  More orders. “Will I die if I don’t go to bed right now? Is it important I go to sleep right now, otherwise my arms will fall off?” She spat the questions at him sarcastically. “Everything is a reason for you to beat me, isn’t it?”

  Kade did not engage in any further argument. He took her by the arm, bent down, and scooped her up under her knees, lifting her bare-bottomed, squirming, spitting body into his arms.