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So, I force myself to my feet – unbuttoning my work pants off, yanking them down around my ankles, and finally kicking them aside with an angry snarl. I stand there in my t-shirt…

…and nothing else.

My skin crawls as a hundred or more Aurelians stare at my bare ass and exposed pussy. The glare of my crew is even more humiliating. After sharing a tiny spaceship for months, Chris and the others have seen flashes of me naked countless times – but those had always felt…different.

There’s something intrinsically sexual about this current situation, and I can sense Chris and the others staring at me in a way they never have before – with lust.

It disgusts me.

But maybe I should be grateful. There was a time not too long ago during which I thought I was facing certain death – when we were being pursued by those Toad missiles. I’m not sure which would have killed me – the immense explosion, or asphyxiation in the dead of space – but neither option was an improvement on my current situation.

Now, instead of the coldness of space, I’m going to face the searing heat of a rough Aurelian spanking – but I’ll survive it, even if my dignity and self-respect doesn’t.

I move to sit back down – but I don’t get that chance.

Suddenly, Vinicus steps forward – scooping me up as if I’m weightless. I gasp as I’m swept up into his huge, strong arms – and then he sets me down over his lap like I’m nothing but a naughty child.

Vinicus a fuckingbeastof a man – with legs the width and firmness of tree trunks. I’m pressed down across them, stretched out over the rough material of his armored combat pants. They’re designed out of armored microfilaments and Kevlar mesh – built to deflect the power and sharpness of Scorp claws – and the material is harsh against my bare skin.

I shiver. Making this situation even more humiliating is how it’s not playing out as I’d anticipated. I’d been expecting Captain Aelon to do the honors – he looked like the kind of proud, preening bastard who’d delight in it.

It would have been particularly embarrassing to be spanked by that smug captain – but this is so unexpected that I’m not even sure how to react to it.

Vinicus is intimidating in a baser way. I barely know this huge, looming Aurelian, and I have no idea what to expect from him. I test him, shifting in his lap…

…and then gasp as he effortlessly pins me down, with one hand placed on the small of my back.

It’s barely an effort for him. The huge alien is so strong and powerful that he can do whatever he likes to me, and there’d be nothing I could do to stop him. I’m so powerless.

As I lie across Vinicus’s lap, Captain Aelon steps in front of me, blocking my view of the crowd for a moment.

I look up, fire in my eyes, but he remains unperturbed – studying me with those imperious, slate-grey eyes.

Vinicus holds me in his lap, and I have to turn my head to the right to meet Aelon’s gaze as he looms over me.

“You chose this path, Tasha,” he warns. Then, the Captain grins. The conceit is dripping from him. “You chose this – because I suspect some part of youwantsthis.”

Howdarehe!

I try to curse at the haughty bastard, but I don’t get the chance. As soon as I open my mouth, the first slap of Vinicus’s huge palm comes crashing down on my bare bottom.

A sound like a gunshot echoes across the mess hall. That curse turns to a yelp of pain on my tongue. A blossom of white, hot agony ripples across my bare ass.

Fuck!

This isn’t a sensual, erotic punishment. This isn’t teasing or playful. This isreal– pure dominance and discipline. This is payback for my men hurting one of Aelon’s soldiers.

Vinicus’s voice suddenly growls from above me.

“I’m comrades with the guard your crewmembers tried to gut,” the Aurelian snarls, as he lifts his hand for another spank. “We served together during our hundred years of service. He saved my lifetwice.”

Vinicus’s words are so low-pitched that they emerge from his mouth as more of a rumble – something that Ifeelmore than hear. The words hurt me, as I realize that the crime of my crewmembers is much more personal to this Aurelian than I’d anticipated.

These marble-skinned bastards are so huge and powerful that it’s easy to think of them as invincible, and impervious to human frailties. I realize now that they’re just men – justmoreman than Chris, Felix, or any of the other human men I’m used to interacting with.

Vinicus presses me down across his lap again, pinning me with that hand on the small of my back. His skin is achingly hot against mine.

Then, he brings his immense palm down again, hard on my left ass-cheek this time.