Assigned a Mate(8)

“Punishment?” I shouted. “I thought you said you were going to teach me about Trion!”

“I am. Starting with this.”

I heard the crack of his hand against my bottom before I felt it. The sharp sting of it sizzled across my bare flesh.

“Tark! Cut it out, you overbearing… jerk!”

He spanked me again. And again. Each time his large palm struck, it was in a new spot. Soon enough my skin felt as if it were on fire, stinging and hot.

I was breathing hard, my hair falling down over my face and I swiped to get it out of the way. On one decidedly hard smack of his hand, I reached back and tried to cover my bottom. Instead of deterring him, he only circled my wrists in his free hand and continued.

“Are you ready to listen… with your mouth closed?” he asked, stroking over my heated skin. Surely it was bright red and swollen.

Afraid to say a word, I just nodded my head, then slumped down across his lap.

“Ah, gara. Your submission is a pleasure to see.” Before I could even begin to think about that statement, he continued. “We speak with deference here on Trion. I believe it is also referred to as manners.”

I tugged a strand of hair out of my mouth as I realized Tark considered me mannerless. What did he think, that Earth was full of heathens?

“It is not for you to argue with the doctor. It is my job to do so in your stead. He was impertinent, as you said, but it was my job as your mate to defend your honor. To defend your position as a woman in this society. To protect you. When you spoke out of turn, you took that from me, thus dishonoring me as well.”

It was a tad antiquated, but I could understand the logic. I stroked my fingers over the smooth flooring. Having a conversation with my face near the floor was odd, but so was being spanked. Well, so was being on Trion for that matter. “You mean that I am to defer to you?”

“Are you familiar with the ways and customs of Trion?”

I shook my head.

“Are you familiar with me?”

I shook my head again.

“Doctor Bron or the examination he was going to give?”

“No,” I replied.

“If I were to appear on Earth, wouldn’t you wish to speak for me, to help guide me as I learned my way?”

I clenched my teeth again and hated that his reasoning was not unfounded.

“Yes.”

He released his hold on my wrists and helped me to stand before him, close enough to be situated between his spread knees. My bottom was hot and stung from the spanking. His size was great enough that his eyes were not in line with my breasts. That did not mean that I did not feel any less exposed and vulnerable, even more so now that he pointed out the error of my ways.

“I need to check your implant.”

His words stirred me from my thoughts. I was surprised that he could switch to another topic so readily. He’d meted out my punishment and it was time to move on?

“I assume your neuroprocessor is working properly, since you seem to understand everything said to you.”

I frowned. “What?” What was he talking about? What neuroprocessor?

“Do not be afraid, small one.” I was average height and at least two dress sizes bigger than the medical charts on Earth said I should be. I was not small, but standing in front of my new mate, I felt almost tiny, and very, very female.

Tark lifted his hands to my head and ran his fingers up the sides of my face to the top of each temple, just above my eyes. He must have found what he was looking for because when he applied a very small amount of pressure, I felt two foreign bumps pressing into the bone of my skull. It wasn’t painful, but definitely odd.

“What is that?” The moment Tark removed his hands, I lifted my own shaking fingers to the same spots and felt the small bumps beneath my skin.

“They are advanced neuroprocessing units, or NPUs. All advanced member races of the Interstellar Bride Program have them implanted at birth. The NPU increases your brain’s ability to process and learn language and mathematics, and improves memory. We are speaking now in my planet’s common tongue, which was downloaded to your NPU before you arrived.”

Holy shit. I was a cyborg or something now?

“I have alien technology implanted in my head? Are there little wires running to my brain cells? How did the NPU system integrate and communicate with the organic tissue?” My medically trained mind had a hundred questions and no answers.

Tark’s eyes widened and his lip quirked. “Aren’t you the curious one?”

Instead of answering my questions, he glanced at the table in the middle of the room. “Lie down again, Evelyn Day.” His voice was still deep, but lacked the biting edge he’d had when spanking me.