Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
“Yes. And I want to show you my plan in action. Punishment followed by absolution.”
“Your plan for what, now?”
My question is ignored.
“This human, the love of my life, lied to me when she became my assistant. Her qualifications were completely fabricated. She hid her past from me at every turn, pretended to be competent in areas in which she had no competence, and may very well have precipitated the nuclear strike which… well, never mind. Suffice to say, this human has a lot to atone for.”
There is a pause in which the captain absorbs all that information.
“You hired a lying human and allowed her to sabotage our efforts to rehabilitate the human species and save them from their impending doom?” Talos asks the question in dry and unimpressed tones.
“I may also have one or two things to answer for,” Cir allows. “But enough about me.”
Captain Talos seems willing to let that slide for now, though I imagine it is not something that will be let go forever.
“She has felt guilt every day she has been in my employ. She has feared rejection, and ultimately, death.”
“I have?”
“Sure,” he tells me. “For a social species, rejection is akin to literal death. Without your chosen pack or herd to protect you, you are vulnerable to predators, illness… Anyway, I digress.”
With that, my world whirls. Cir has swept me over his lap and is pinning me in place, his palm already whipping my seat with quick, sharp spanks. For the moment I have the modesty of my dress covering my rear, but that will likely not last much longer.
“You could have told me this is what you were going to do!” I gasp the sentence as I attempt to maintain some kind of dignity. Cir knows how to spank me. His disciplinary edge has been part of his charm and a huge contributor to my personal downfall since we met.
I do not want to look at the captain, or his nicer offsider. There are different reasons I don’t want Arlo and Talos seeing me this way. When I chance a brief glance, the two aliens are not looking impressed with me, or Cir.
It is not long before I am unable to notice or care about the onlookers. Cir is making a proper example of me. This hurts. Properly hurts. I wail because my body demands wailing. The spanking is hard and it is long and it turns my comfortable ass region into a flaming hot, ultra tight and terribly swollen mass of pain.
“Please! That’s enough!”
“It’s not enough,” Cir tells me, though he does pause for a brief moment. “I have to punish you until you feel you’ve been punished enough. Until the little unseen meter of guilt inside you tips over to the side of forgiveness.”
“That could be a really long time,” I sniffle. “I feel bad all the time for all sorts of things. Some things I should feel bad about, other things are just things my mind likes to torture me with. I’m a mess of guilt and shame.”
“Exactly!” Cir ejaculates the word as if I just said something he was hoping I’d say. “Do you see? This is the key to the human condition. They’re almost always uncomfortable with themselves, questioning their choices, feeling a vague sense of guilt and wrongdoing. It’s so broadly felt they’ve built it into most of their religions.”
“You may be right,” Talos admits, begrudgingly.
“We cannot help this species without also punishing them,” Cir says, patting my ass as I sob in confusion over his lap. What he’s saying does make some kind of sense, but it’s a very esoteric point and I’m not sure why I had to have my ass spanked to the point of tears to prove it.
“I love this woman,” Cir continues. “And I will make her my wife. Because of all she is, all her conflicting drives, all her desires, all her guilt and her shame and her need, and her intelligence. She is a complex little thing, and I will spend my life unraveling her mystery.”
“Yes,” Talos says. “You will. I’ve made a decision.”
I am sobbing from joy and pain and relief and excitement and shame and… too many things.
“You, Cir, and a small contingent of Cupid will remain here to attempt to contain this species and aid them along the path to survival. Several dozen soldiers have volunteered for this mission. We will take the Halo and move on.”
“You’re leaving me in charge of planet Earth?” Cir sounds surprised.
“Yes. It is time you had command of your own planet, and though things have hardly gone smoothly thus far, saving humanity is not going to be a short-term project. It will require dedication and a true affection for the species. Your willingness to marry this human is testament to that affection. Marry the woman. Save the world.”