Page 54 of Daddy’s Hunted Bride

Once my cousins are in place, Uncle Eli and Auntie Gray pick up their weapons and tap them against the reddened bottoms over their laps.

“You already know why you're being punished,” Auntie Gray says, her voice sterner than I’ve ever heard it. “Hopefully the next time we have movie night, you’ll all stay where you’re put when it’s time for bed and not go rummaging around Uncle Eli’s kitchen.”

The sound of wood cracking against flesh echoes around the kitchen, mingling with the sharp cries of my cousins as they kick and squeal and sob.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Eli!” Lanie cries out, wriggling and fighting against our huge uncle’s hold. “I’m sorry!”

“Auntie Gray, please! No more, no more!” Poor Josie is barely even fighting anymore, instead laying slumped over Auntie Gray’s thigh, her loud sobs filling the air.

But neither our auntie nor our uncle even pause. Not until both bottoms in front of them are a deep, angry red and the Little girls over their laps are sobbing too hard to even speak. Only then do they stop and pull my cousins up into their arms, rocking them gently and whispering something the rest of us can’t hear.

Something twists inside me as I watch the scene play out. It’s an ache, almost like… longing?

But that can’t be right. I can’t actually want this.

Right? They haven’t broken me that thoroughly.

Or have they?

Whatever the feeling in my chest is, it grows even sharper when Auntie Gray presses a kiss to Josie’s temple and wipes the tears from her eyes. “All right, Josie-Posie. I think your Daddy would like a cuddle now.”

Taking their cue, Uncle Axel and Uncle Bram both step forward, lifting their sniffling babygirls into their arms and snuggling them close. My cousins drop their heads onto their Daddies’ shoulders, and I can’t help but notice how peaceful they look, even with tear tracks staining their cheeks.

“All right, Tabitha. Vanessa.” Auntie Gray’s stern tone draws my attention back to her and my stomach twists painfully at the determination I see on her face. “Time to pay the piper.”

CHAPTER 23

VANESSA

My heart leaps into my throat at Auntie Gray’s words and I look over my shoulder at my Daddy. But he only nods and nudges me forward, toward my punishment.

It feels as though my feet are made of lead as I drag myself over to stand in front of Auntie Gray. Her expression is stern as she reaches under the nightgown Daddy dressed me in for our sleepover to unfasten my diaper.

“When a grownup puts you to bed, you are to stay in bed,” she lectures as she pulls the diaper from me and sets it aside. “It is far too dangerous for Little girls to go wandering around this big house all alone at night.”

It is a huge fucking house. But I’m not actually a child. I’m not going to fall down the stairs or drink bleach or whatever it is they’re worried we might get into.

Voicing those opinions will probably only get me spanked harder, however, so I keep them to myself as Auntie Gray pulls me down over her lap.

“If you girls can’t behave yourselves during our movie nights, then I’ll have no choice but to stop having them. So I hope for all your sakes I do not have to repeat this lesson.”

Even before the first swat falls, tears are pooling on my lashes. My cousins were so excited about movie night, and the thought of them losing out because of something I did makes me want to sob already.

A loud crack rings out, and I jump over Auntie Gray’s lap. It takes me a moment to realize the sound was of Uncle Eli’s hand connecting with Tabby’s bare bottom. But I’m almost immediately distracted from Tabby’s predicament by the sharp jolt of pain on my own backside as Auntie Gray lights into me.

She spanks hard and fast, covering every inch of my bottom and the tops of my thighs with hard, stinging swats. It takes less than a dozen for whatever bravado I had left to abandon me.

“Owie, owie, Auntie Gray, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

My own pleas mingle with Tabby’s sorrowful wails, filling the air with a symphony of pain and regret.

“I’m sure you’re very sorry you got caught,” Auntie Gray lectures, raising her voice to be heard over our cries for mercy. “But you are going to be even more sorry by the time we’re through with you.”

As if they’ve rehearsed it, Auntie Gray and Uncle Eli stop spanking at the exact same time. I sag over her lap, panting to catch my breath.

But my relief is short-lived.

Something hard taps against my bottom and I let out a loud groan as I remember that my punishment isn’t over. “Oh, Auntie Gray, no! Not your brush, please, Auntie Gray!”