Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
She shook her head, giving him a small smile. “I like it. Should I call you Arion, Sir?”
Ah. Another important moment. He slid his hand to the side of her face and stroked the soft skin of her cheek. “Arion is my name, but Little girls who are claimed by the Alpha Protectors usually refer to their mates as Daddy.”
Arion waited a beat while she processed before continuing. “Daddy is an endearing term of submission. As your Daddy, my job is to protect and nurture you. Guide you. Teach you the ways of our people. As your Daddy, I will have rules you must follow. Rules for your safety and wellbeing. I will also discipline you when you break those rules to help you learn.”
She swallowed hard but didn’t look away. She looked kind of shocked but didn’t seem on the verge of bolting from the cabin.
He patted her hip, keeping her close. “Out here away from the valley, we’re higher up the mountain. There are dangers. I will teach you what you need to know to always be safe, but I will not stray from your side for several weeks while you learn how important it is to obey Daddy.”
She licked her lips. She was trembling. “I’ve heard some people call their mates Daddy before.”
He was so relieved by her response that his entire body loosened. He grinned. “It’s not uncommon. Some people only use the fond term in private. Others don’t mind who hears them.”
She nodded slowly.
This was going better than expected. He decided to lighten things up and change the subject for a while. “Tell me about your family.”
She sat up straighter and smiled. “Really?”
He was pleasing her. Win. “Yes, Bella. I want to know everything about you. I want to know what makes you happy and what makes you sad. I want to become the one person in the universe who will make you the happiest. In order to do that, I need to know everything about you.”
Chapter Seven
Jezebel’s head was spinning from overload. She had so many questions, and every time he told her something new, she ended up with even more questions.
She was glad he cared enough to ask about her family. She would tell him everything he wanted to know. He seemed focused and intent on her.
“If you watched me, you probably know far more about me than I do about you. Did you really watch me a lot?”
He smiled broader. “Yes. My best friend, Brock, made fun of me. He always knew where to find me when I was missing. I had a huge rock I sat on where I had a clear view of your schoolyard. It calmed me to watch you laugh with your friends.”
“I’m at a disadvantage,” she teased. “I don’t know anything about you.”
“I will tell you. I promise. We have nothing but time to get to know each other. I want to know everything.”
Arion…Daddy, was going out of his way to make her feel comfortable and welcome. She already trusted him. “You probably know I have five sisters. I am the youngest and last to be mated.”
He nodded.
“You watched me while I sat on the picnic table at lunch, didn’t you?”
He smiled. “Yes, Bella. I love that you sensed me.”
“My friends didn’t believe me. They thought I was loony toons when I told them I could feel you watching me,” she informed him. “My best friend is Suzette. She also has the mark of promise to an Alpha Protector. She said she never felt him, so she thought I surely couldn’t either.”
Arion nodded. “I’ll admit I’m a bit of an anomaly. Not many of my peers torture themselves by spending hours watching their mates.”
She gasped in confusion. “Torture?”
He chuckled and firmed his grip on her hip. “It was torture because all I could do was watch. I couldn’t talk to you or touch you or smell you or hear you or…” he let his voice dip lower, “…taste you.”
She shivered. Taste me? What did that even mean? She decided he was referring to kissing, and her cheeks heated.
He continued, “I was seventeen when you were born. By that age, I was antsy, knowing my mate did not yet exist. I wanted you to hurry up and be born. And then I had to wait twenty long years to claim you.”
“I didn’t even know how old you might be,” she confessed.
“That’s how it’s supposed to be, Bella. Little girls are not informed of who their future Daddy will be, while we Alpha Protectors are burdened with watching from afar, if we choose, and waiting.”
She turned to more fully face him and set her hands tentatively on his chest. “I wanted to touch you too,” she whispered, feeling bold and a bit embarrassed. Maybe she wasn’t allowed to touch him so intimately.