Page 11 of Choosing Her Alpha
Taking the punishment in Patrick’s place was a good cause. It was worth it. She was breed; she’d be healed in two days’ time from so few lashes, with only a couple new scars for her trouble.
But Patrick? Ten bloody lashes, plus the daily workload required of him, made him susceptible to fever, infection, and plenty of other hardships.
Merrick snapped the whip. Sasha startled at the awful, familiar sound, her muscles bunching in nervous anticipation.
"Hold on to the sides of the table, Sasha," he told her.
She did, knuckles whitening under the pressure of her grip. Every impulse told her to fight or run. She had to force herself to remain still.
As her eyes scanned over the people who were watching, she knew she couldn't escape. These people would be the ones to pay if she did.
Again, he cracked the whip. Sasha felt the weight of it stripe her back, jolting her forward.
"One," she shouted, the word forced out in a hurry. There was always a delay. A few horrible seconds before the searing pain was relayed by her nerves to her brain. Knowing it would come didn’t stop her from bucking when the pain finally hit her.
She swallowed hard, grip on the table tightening, and reminded herself to be still. If she could just take the beating, this would be over.
Merrick didn't dally. He was good with the whip, making it move as he moved. A fluid thing of power and art, he commanded the long lash of it to do his will—as if an extension of himself.
She counted and then he'd strike, watching her, taking in the flinch of her body, the contortions of her face, and every bit of her pain at his hand. He saw everything she didn’t want him to see.
If he'd expected her to cry or beg, then he'd missed the fact that this wasn't her first whipping. It hurt. By the first rod, it hurt. But pain like this was easy.
When she counted out ten, he stopped, walking over to where she hunched over the table. He pried her fingers off the wood and instead of admiring his handiwork, he helped her stand.
Her back was on fire, her legs trembled, and she let herself be moved without trying to shift away. His eyes searched hers, their expression strange. Sasha had no idea what to do. Was that compassion in his eyes? Remorse?
Just as suddenly, that flicker of humanity was gone. He stepped away from her. "Go get a new top and get this mess cleaned up. We have customers and guests to serve. And since you seem to think you are in charge of the drones, you had better start doing a better job of controlling them. Next time, I will not spare them."
Chapter 5
It took Sasha another day to recoup and prepare for her escape. Busy with other things, his outlaw guests among them, Sasha didn't see Merrick. Instead he sent Ditah to check on the results of her punishment from the evening before.
With a superior, cat in the cream expression, Ditah looked Sasha over. "You'll live."
Ten lashes were nothing. By the morning the swelling would go down, and by the next evening, the pain of it would be a memory. The humiliation—having to beg, to say thank you, the touch of his hand between her shoulders—those memories would last longer.
Her biggest concern wasn't escaping or trying to find this male she'd never met. It was leaving the drones behind. Would Merrick question them? Would he hurt them? If he did, it wouldn’t take long for him to find out the truth. Drones were never able to fool a breed.
She warned Silas over and over not to lie about what she was doing. Instead she suggested he tell Merrick that she'd run away into the market. She even suggested he tell Merrick the moment they returned so it didn’t appear they were trying to hide anything.
If they were honest, he’d be less suspicious of them. The whole way to the market that next day, she let her thoughts and feelings about the awful alpha and what he’d done spill freely. She made a show of how upset she was, making a point to mention how little she slept and how bad a man she thought Merrick was. By the time she was done, the drones would have enough of Sasha’s talk for Merrick to drown himself in.
As an industrial neighborhood, Sector 10 had only one public market. Vendors sometimes popped up on populated streets elsewhere, but the main market where everyone gathered was open every day and provided everything a person could need, if they had enough coin to buy it.
Held in the shadow of the Administration building, the market filled three streets and alleyways. Rebuilt by King Rhineholth, this part of the city was new. The modern buildings had fewer stories, giving an open feel to the streets. It was a refreshing change from the older areas of the city where the tall husks of drone built relics cast long shadows over everything.
In keeping with the tidy lines of the modern buildings, the market was clean and waste free. The additional patrol necessary to maintain the order and cleanliness of the place meant people were able to offer all manner of goods for sale without fear of their merchandise being stolen.
Households large and small always had things to sell, and though the variety might have been limited by the season, the quantities of fresh food available to the public were staggering. Many of the market merchants were breed women, their faces obscured by the scarves in fashion with the queen and signaling their marriage status. Even poor women liked a bit of color.
Eggs, cheese, butter, fruits and vegetables—anything that could be raised or grown was available for purchase. Even varieties of small livestock were available in the side alleys, usually tended to by the older children in the family and household drones.
Sasha had always thought this the best part of the sector. People, colors, textures, so much to see. She loved visiting here.
Before his death, Sasha’s father let her spend the day with him here as he sold their gin and mead by the bottle. Most people were too afraid to haggle with an alpha, but that didn't stop sector citizens from buying out their stock before the day's end. Sasha quickly learned to never underestimate the power of alcohol. Breed and human alike couldn't resist it.
She felt safe next to her father and had been glowing with the joy of spending the entire day with him. Even if he left their table for a moment to talk to friends, he always stayed where he could see her, and no one dared come near. Edin Dover had been well known and universally liked in Sector 10. No one crossed him.
