“I will come to your shop in two days to help you ward, to protect you and your family because youneedprotecting.”
I’m nodding—helplessly, stupidly. He pushes my pinkish hair behind my ear, his talon grazing my cheek. The sensation of danger prickles along my skin, but the risk feels more like a reward. His fingers trail down to my neck, lingering on my collarbone before he pulls away. He turns for the bar and begins righting the furniture.
“I need you to come back that night so that I may utilize all my magic to ward my bar, and only refuge, from these monsters. Will you come back?”
I nod again.
His expression glows with satisfaction, but not a trace of a smile. “Good girl.”
A gratifying shiver rolls down my spine, and I whimper at the feeling it leaves in my belly. Ugh. What is wrong with me?
Rhazan drags a stool close and sits like a king preparing to pass judgment.
“Now, bend over my knee.”
I gasp, heat flushing my face. “No, sir, I don’t think so.”
“I told you to return to my office earlier and you didn’t. You could’ve been hurt.”
“Could’ve but wasn’t, because I’m a badass,” I say, setting the broom handle against the bar.
“You infused your weapon with my magic. A normal broomstick would’ve done nothing but upset them. Without me, you would’ve been hurt, and so—”
He props his thigh up by resting his clawed foot on the stool’s support bar.
“I’m going to punish you.”
He points to his leg, a silent command to come and bend over him. I lock my knees together and bite my lip.
“You need punishment, Jiahui.”
My heart thunders in my ears. Do I need this? Maybe. Do I want it? Hell, yes.
“Guess you never did finish that other lesson…”
I walk to him, reveling in the way his eyes follow the flow of my hips when I move. I stop beside him, nerves firing through my gut like little explosions. I’ve never done kinky stuff before.I’ve never donestuffbefore. And now I’m about to bend over an ifrit’s knee and let him spank me for being a bad girl.
Warmth pools in my lower belly.
I touch his leg, hands gently grazing the fabric of his pants as I lower myself across him. His thick thigh flexes under my stomach and I clench up, too. He grabs under my chest and across my shoulder, supporting my upper body. I hold on to his forearm with both hands and my back arches, presenting my rear.
He sighs deeply and bathes my lower back in heat and smoke. My breaths come in staccato pants as his other hand caresses my left cheek.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he says, then lifts his hand.
I grab his arm tighter, preparing for the strike. It hits with a loudcrackthat reverberates through my body with delicious heat. I yelp, my feet kicking off the ground until I’m suspended by him.
“I would be very upset.”
His hand comes down on the other cheek with a gratifying clap that echoes throughout the bar. He hits the same cheek again, fast, and without warning. I moan against the strike and arch my butt higher. He massages the spot for a moment, his fingers dipping lower and rubbing the inside of my thigh. I turn my head to look up at him. He’s watching me with an intensity that feels borderline obsessive.
And I fucking love it.
“Why would you be upset?” I ask, my voice a small, shaky thing.
His racing heart is visible in the glowing veins of fire on his chest and arms. He huffs, spanking my left cheek again. The smack makes all the fiery lines glow brighter, and his trousers pull tighter.
“Because.”
