Jonas (Darkness #7)(41)

Sasha paused and rubbed her hands over her face.

“Did you just say people would try to get at her womb?” Charles asked, aghast. He hovered right behind Sasha.

Ann punched him in the side as she passed. “She’s divulging some heavy shit, Charles. Let the lady work.” Ann snickered and moved up the steps to the Mansion. “Sasha, you need to sleep. Seriously, you’re losing it.”

“You agree with me, yet you still punched me and argued?” Charles stalked after Ann.

“You’re an idiot.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” they barely heard as Charles and Ann went through the door.

Sasha stared at Emmy with bloodshot eyes. “What I mean is, you’re welcome here. You’ll fit in as soon as you stop cowering. Because if you cower, people will think they rock, and that is no good. It goes right to their heads, and then they’ll get kicked in the nuts when they try to put that on another human. And when people veer away from you, it isn’t you. It’s Jonas. He scares people. They’ll think you’re a tough bitch just dealing with him. Also, you have the weekend off, but then you best get in school. You need to earn your keep, and Jonas thinks you’re strong in power, so that’s good. We can use you.”

“You’re babbling, human.” Jonas shooed Sasha toward the door. “Go see your kids. I’ll be by tomorrow to hold one.”

“Oh no. Can’t just take one. You’ll take both or none. Do my job, or don’t. No halvsies just because you’re boinking a halvsie. Get it?”

Sasha’s shoulders drooped and she shook her head. “Yikes. I’m tired. See ya.”

Jonas smirked as he led Emmy up the steps to the front door behind Sasha. They went down the hall slowly so Emmy could take in the Mansion, and then turned up the stairs toward Jonas’ quarters. “Do you mind staying with me? We can have a room made up for you tomorrow if you want your own place.”

“With you is fine.”

Jonas gave her shoulders a squeeze as they walked down the corridor. As Sasha had said, people saw him coming and immediately hustled to the sides to be out of his way. Most had probably been tossed through a door at one time or another and didn’t want a repeat. It made Jonas’ life easier.

“She seems nice. Weird, but nice,” Emmy said quietly. “And the Boss seems to really dote on her.”

“Yeah. They make a good team.”

“Is what she said true—are those with human blood sought after because of their ability to reproduce?”

Jonas couldn’t help stiffening slightly. He wanted this female more than he’d wanted anyone in his whole life. Being near her, hearing her voice, breathing her scent—she felt like a piece of him. He wanted to mate her, mark her if she’d let him, and see if they could bear children. But what he didn’t want, and didn’t know if he could handle, was someone else trying to get at her or her brood. He didn’t think he could share. Not her.

“Toa is thinking that our stunted reproduction might have to do with staying to ourselves. We don’t inbreed, obviously, but we don’t have a lot of input from diverse regions. Humans are great at reproduction anyway, and they are fresh blood. Toa thinks that helps. I, personally, think humans are great at populating. That’s their defense against a harsh environment.”

“Nathanial kept me to himself all these years to try and get me with child. He thought the child would lean toward his race. Yours. Then he was afraid he might be the problem, and didn’t want anyone else to touch me.”

Jonas felt a pang in his chest for her treatment. He squeezed her before he opened his door and waited for her to go in ahead of him. Once the door was closed behind him, he said, “At least you only had one tyrant, rather than multiple.”

Emmy nodded as she wandered into the room, the weight dragging down her shoulders relenting for the first time since she’d met his people. She sighed and then giggled. Hurrying to the other side of the moderately-sized room, she ran her fingers over his various sexual tools, a stand not unlike hers in the dungeon.

“And now I see.” She leaned against the wall as she fingered the paddle. Heat crept into her gaze. “I know you’re tired, but take off your sweats and get on your knees. I want to punish you. Then let’s see if you can get me pregnant before we go to sleep.”

Jonas went from dead-tired to wide-awake with a hard-on in the time it took him to strip his sweats. He knelt right where he stood, doing as she said. He gulped as she released a heavy leather paddle from the stand. His heart started to beat as she stripped out of her blood-spattered dress and stood before him completely in the nude. His stomach flipped as she sauntered toward him with all the command and grace as the first day he’d met her. This time, however, she wasn’t ashamed of her sexual nature. This time, she was exploiting it.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said in a gush.

“I didn’t say speak.” She swung the paddle with force. The leather slapped against his stomach. Pain lanced out across his skin.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I said, I didn’t say to speak!”

He heard her giggle right before the paddle slapped across his back. He clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut, soaking into that pain. Feeling it morph into adrenaline. Feeling his dick lurch, begging to touch this beautiful, commanding female.