Chapter 3
AXEL
Fuck.
I’d hoped to have at least a little while longer to get my Little one settled before Grayson showed up.
Bracing myself for the argument to come, I turn to face my sister, her face bright red and snowflakes melting in her hair.
“Were you outside? In this storm?” Worry turns my voice sharp, and behind me Colt groans. Gray might be our only sister, but she’s held her own with us from the day she was born and she heavily resents any implication to the contrary.
Eyes narrowing, Gray plants her hands on her hips and lets out a low growl to rival any of us.
“Don’t try and change the subject, Axel.
I was out with Bram getting more firewood and making sure the generator was ready to go.
Thought we had at least another hour before it hit this hard.
” Yanking her gloves from her hands, she gestures at the woman strapped to the table.
“Then I come back inside and Dane tells me you’ve picked up a goddamn hitchhiker. And is she wearing a wedding dress?”
“She wasn’t hitchhiking. Her car broke down in the snow and we rescued her. I couldn’t just leave her out there to freeze to death, Gray.”
Some of the tension drains from Gray’s shoulders, but her eyes are bright as ever. “Still, you can’t just bring in a stray without telling anyone, Axel.”
My Little girl lifts her head to glare at Gray. “I am not a stray. And he didn’t rescue me, he kidnapped me. And as far as I’m concerned, you’re all accomplices if you don’t let me go right this fucking second.”
Gray’s eyes narrow. “Watch your language, little girl.”
“Or what?”
I don’t even bother to sigh as Gray advances on the table. My babygirl was bound to discover how strict her Auntie Gray is sooner or later.
Sliding her hand into my Little girl’s dark curls, Gray turns her head as she leans down.
“Naughty Little girls who don’t mind their manners get their mouths washed out with soap and their bottoms whipped with Daddy’s belt until they’re crying and begging for mercy. Do you understand me, little one?”
Eyes wide, my Little girl sucks in a sharp breath. “I’m not a child.”
“You may not be a child, but in this house you are a Little girl. And you will do as you’re told or I will spank you myself. We clear?”
Something about Gray’s words or maybe just the no-nonsense tone she’s using clearly gets through to the woman on the table. Eyes wide, she nods as best she can. “Y-yes, Ma’am.”
“Good girl.” Still gripping my babygirl’s hair, Gray glances up at Ford. “Take her to the kitchen, get her some hot cocoa to help her warm up. I need to talk to Axel.”
“You got it.” Reaching for the leather strap across my Little one’s back, Ford smiles. “Let’s go, little one. We’ll get some cocoa with way too many marshmallows, the way your Uncle Colt likes it.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to lecture him about spoiling her, but truth be told she could probably use a bit of spoiling at the moment. She has had a rather traumatic morning, it seems.
But as soon as Ford slides the leather free of the buckle, she shoves off the table, a blur of white tulle and lace as she races for the front door.
“Goddammit.” Ford lets out a resigned sigh. “I’ll get her.”
“No. I’ll do it.” My heart already pounding with the excitement of the chase, I flash my siblings a grin. “I’ve been looking forward to giving my Little girl a taste of her Daddy’s discipline.”
Melanie
Fear and adrenaline pound through my veins as I run blindly through the shockingly giant house. What I thought was a simple log cabin is actually a cavernous mansion with soaring ceilings and giant furniture.
If I wasn’t running for my life, I might be able to appreciate the beauty of it.
But I am running for my life, so I don’t even pause as I race through a nearly industrial-sized kitchen, and then a living room.
A sob of relief rises in my chest at the sight of the front door and I don’t stop until I feel the cool metal of the doorknob in my hand.
Twisting the handle, I yank the door open, and dart out into the swirling white tempest.
My slippered feet sink into the freezing snow and I stumble, falling onto my hands and knees as I fight for breath. Behind me, a deep voice swears violently a moment before an iron band wraps around my waist.
“Must be out of your damn mind, running out into a goddamn blizzard. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Let me go, you bastard!”
“That’s it. I’ve had enough of your naughty language, little girl.”
His words pierce the haze of fury in my brain, and I’m violently reminded of the terrifying blonde woman and the threat she issued when I was strapped to that table. My blood turns to ice in my veins and I immediately try to backpedal.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I won’t say any more bad words, I swear!”
“Too little, too late, my little runaway.”
Since pleading didn’t work, I revert back to fighting, kicking and wriggling and scratching for all I’m worth.
But I might as well be a kitten caught in the jaws of a lion for all the good it does me.
His grip on me doesn’t even loosen as he hauls me back into the house where the woman is waiting, her arms crossed and an odd sort of smile on her face.
“Got a fighter on your hands.”
“I know. Isn’t she great?”
I would swear there’s almost a note of pride in his voice.
Well, if he wants a fighter, then I’ll give him a fucking fight.
Twisting around in his arms, I lunge for him, sinking my teeth into the first bit of flesh I can find. He hisses, but still doesn’t let go of me.
“That just earned you two extra with Daddy’s belt, little girl.”
The blonde woman sighs as we pass her. “I’ll go get the cocoa started. She’s going to need it when this is all over.”
Why that statement should fill me with more dread than anything else that’s been said or done to me since I woke up here, I don’t know. But the horror settles heavy in my stomach, making me want to vomit, and I shift gears again.
“Please, you have to help me. You can’t let him do this to me!”
I’m under no delusions that women can’t be just as cruel and sadistic as men. But I cling to the hope that maybe, maybe there’s some sense of sisterhood lurking beneath those cold, dark eyes. Some shared desire to uproot the patriarchy buried deep in her DNA I might be able to tap into.
No such luck.
“Axel.”
With that single word, the man holding me hostage halts and the woman steps closer, once more leaning in until we are nearly nose to nose.
“Let’s get something straight right now, little one.
There is no one in this house who would ever step between a Daddy and his Little girl, especially when that Little girl has earned herself a punishment for something as foolish as running straight out into a blizzard without a jacket on.
So you can put any idea you might have about me or anyone else here hiding you from your Daddy’s discipline right out of your head. ”
A soft smile curves her lips and she cups my cheek in her hand, a surprisingly tender touch that unsettles me more than her promise that she won’t help me.
“Now, your Daddy is going to teach you an important lesson about safety and naughty words, and afterward you can snuggle with Auntie Gray and drink cocoa if you want. But right now, you have a very well-deserved spanking coming your way.”
Straightening, she nods at my captor. “Maxwell sent us some of those mini bars of soap they use on their Little ones. All the bathrooms are stocked with them.”
“Thanks, Gray.”
And with that, we’re moving again, toward a small room just off the cavernous living room. The man I now know as Axel sets me down on the closed toilet seat and pins me with a glare. “Don’t even think about trying to run again, little girl.”
He may have me cornered in a small room with the only door blocked by his massive frame. But that doesn’t mean I have to give in so easily. “Or what?”
“Or, I will go get some of the rope your Uncle Bram enjoys and tie you up so you can’t move a muscle while I punish you. Up to you, little runaway.”
The thought of being tied up with no chance of escape is even more terrifying than the threat of having my mouth washed out and my butt whipped with a belt.
I’m not quite ready to tell him that, however, so I settle for huffing out an annoyed breath.
“I don’t have an Uncle Bram. None of these men are my uncles. ”
“They are now,” he says simply. “But that’s beside the point at the moment. Are you going to be a good girl or do I need to go get the rope?”
“How about you drive me into town, drop me off at the local motel and forget I ever existed?”
His sigh seems to fill the whole room. “The rope it is, then.”
Finally the panic wins out, overriding everything else. “No! Don’t tie me up!”
It feels like forever we’re locked in a silent battle of wills in that bathroom, him staring me down with those onyx eyes. Until, finally, he nods. “No rope. For now. But if you try to run, that will change. Understood?”
“Yeah.” My voice is shakier than I’d like it to be, betraying the fear trembling just beneath my bravado. “Yeah, I understand.”
Something shifts in his expression, a dark, churning kind of emotion I can’t quite place. “Say ‘Yes, Daddy’.”
Fuck no. I manage to bite back the words just in time. No need to get myself in any more trouble than I’m already in.
But I’m not about to give in to such an outrageous demand, either. “No.”
My pulse spikes even higher as his eyes narrow. To my shock, however, he doesn’t press the issue.
“All right. There will be time for that later.”
When he opens the cabinet beneath the sink, my self-preservation instincts kick in. “Wait!”
Straightening again, he raises an eyebrow at me. “Yes, little one?”
Eyes locked on the small bar of soap in his hand—is it really that small, or does it just look extra tiny because he is so very large?—I swallow hard. “I-I’ll say it if you don’t use that on me.”
“But then how will my naughty Little girl learn not to use such big girl words?”
He chuckles then, and the sound creeps up my spine like some kind of sinister little monster I can’t see.
I should beg. Plead with him for mercy as though my very life depends on it, since it very well might.
But I can’t bring myself to do it. To humiliate myself any further than he’s already managed to. “Fine,” I snap, crossing my arms over my chest and turning my head away, refusing to give him the satisfaction of watching him as he prepares my punishment.
The sound of crinkling paper as he unwraps the soap is followed by the sound of running water, and I have to swallow hard again to keep the bile from rising in my throat.
“All right, little runaway. Time to take your medicine.”