"There's one more thing I have to add," Nick began. "Remember when you partially stayed the night at the bookstore? Do you remember what I said to you? "
Leo shook his head. All he could recall was that he was extremely exhausted that night, so Nick's words must've flown past his ears.
"I told you that if you tried to escape, there would be consequences and you will be punished," he informed him.
"I-I don't remember hearing you say that," Leo said nervously. Now that he was reminded, he could vaguely remember Nick bringing up the topic of consequences, but he didn't really believe he'd do something serious. Although he was intimidating at times, he seemed care-free too.
"It doesn't matter, you will be punished either way. You ran away from your alpha when you knew damn well I wanted you to stay. You've worried me and caused trouble for not only the public, but for my men. If I don't punish you, you're going to think it's okay to do it something like that again.
"But it's not fair!" Leo whined and snatched his hand away from Nick's hold.
"But you knew that this was going to happen, so you must obey. Don't worry, I'll leave you with two choices. Either you can leave this room and face a more severe punishment the next time you do a mistake, or you can stay here, take the punishment, and I'll reconsider all future punishments I have planned. How does that sound?" He took Leo's hand once more and kissed each finger individually, and Leo heart did the thing. The thing where it was light into a flame and floated inside him until his mind was cloudy with smoke.
When Leo didn't answer, Nick continued. "I don't want to hurt you, Leo. I just want to do this because I think it would be best for you. You're a stubborn spirit, you know that? You must be given a lesson before you get any more wild."
"So you won't lock me up? You're not going to starve me? You won't light my fingertips on fire?"
"I'm your mate, not your torturer," Nick said. "Hmm, it'll hurt a bit, but that depends on your tastes."
Leo's eyes widened. "What do you have planned?"
"If you remove your pants and underwear and sit across my lap, I'll be glad to show you."
He stared at him hard, his brows strewn together. "You're going to spank me?"
"Yes."
He wasn't expecting that. Spanking was something he had never experienced himself before, but he thought it couldn't be that bad. It didn't seem like a severe punishment, and he would take it if it meant not having to face worse ones in the future.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay," Leo repeated. "I'll do it."
Strangely, Leo found himself agreeing to this too easily. Normally he'd try to put on a fight and argue about how this would be damaging to his ego, but he wasn't in the mood to be uncooperative. He accepted that maybe running off wasn't the wisest option and although he wasn't too sure how he felt about the punishment, he was going to take it. He knew it would be better to get it over with, and it would benefit him in the future since it meant Nick would reconsider any future punishments. He would just have to obey.
For now.
---
A couple of minutes later, Leo was stripped naked from the waist down and was over Nick's lap as he sat on his sofa in the corner of his study. He felt extremely awkward and exposed and began to question why he even agreed to this in the first place. He almost wanted to tell Nick he couldn't continue with this and that having worse punishments in the future would be okay if it meant sparing him from the heavy embarrassment. Leo was glad that Nick couldn't see his face because it was beet-red.
"I have a few rules before I begin," Nick started. "You will count, and you will count up to twenty-"
"Twenty?" Leo asked in disbelief.
"Yes, and I'm being merciful. For the trouble you've caused, I was thinking perhaps forty, but I'm going easy on you because this is your first time. I'm not leaving any room for negotiations. You will count to twenty." Nick slipped his hand under Leo's shirt. It was the first time he's ever touched him besides his arms, hands, and face. He adored the feeling of Leo's skin under his fingertips and had to hold in his sigh of content. "If it's too much for you to handle, I will allow you to have a moment to calm down. When you need this small break, you will say red, okay? Do you understand?"
Leo hid his face in his hands. "Yes."
Nick rubbed Leo's bare ass with one hand, which sent a shock through Leo's spine. He shivered and flinched when Nick didn't stop. He was shaking from how cold the room felt without his pants but mainly because of the anxiety chewing at his stomach. Nick continued to cress and stroke his skin until Leo' trembling came to an end. When it did, he lifted one hand and landed it hard on one cheek. He gasped and sunk his nails into Nick's thighs. The pain stung and left his flesh throbbing.
"One," he whispered in a strangled voice.
His hand came down again, but harder this time around. Leo leaned his forehead against Nick's thigh and bit his bottom lip to keep himself from swearing. The sound of his hand against his skin was loud enough to make him blush. Hopefully there weren't any of his men waiting outside and guarding. Leo wouldn't know how to feel if he knew that someone was listening to him get spanked.
"T-Two."
"You won't leave the premises starting today. If you do, you can expect more spanking sessions."
"I won't leave," Leo agreed without thinking. He was too focused on the burning sensation his behind was currently experiencing.
"You will listen to me. You will obey, understand?" He landed another slap to the other cheek before stroking it to calm him down.
"Three. I-I understand."
"You are mine. You don't belong to anyone else."
"Yours." Leo nodded frantically.
Another spank was dealt. The stinging sensation was only getting worse and Leo didn't think he would be able to make it to twenty.
"Red," he sobbed. His eyes were tearing up at the pain. Nick stroked his mate's ass as he patiently waited for him to calm down. "Nick, no more. Please."
"No. You have sixteen more to go and then you're done. I said we won't negotiate further about this, remember?" He told him with an eyebrow raised.
"It hurts, Nick," Leo whined.
"It's supposed to. Otherwise it wouldn't be a punishment." Nick leaned down to kiss the side of Leo's head. "You're doing good, mon ange, just a little more to go."
They were so physically close that Leo felt suffocated from his mate's scent. It surrounded him, the smell from his hands, his thighs, his neck, it was intoxicating him and he swore he would fall drunk just from the smell alone. Nick was a drug he didn't want to take.
Leo didn't think Nick would be this gentle. Yes, he was spanking him but he was expecting the whole process to be sort of like revenge, that he would be much more harsh. Leo didn't complain after that and tried his best to keep his crying and groans to a minimum. Soon, they reached twenty.
"See? That's wasn't too bad," Nick said.
"It hurts," Leo said again.
"I have some aloe vera lotion. Just stay here, okay? I'll be right back," Nick said and gently pushed the aching boy off his lap. Leo flopped into a few cushions face-first and didn't move from his awkward position until Nick came back. Instead of sitting on the sofa again, the blond got on his knees in front of the couch and began to apply the lotion to Leo's sore ass.
He paused and leaned forward to kiss the back of Leo's thigh slowly. "You did so well. You're such a good boy."
Leo shivered at that and tried to ignore the fact that hearing those words was enough to send his heart into a pounding rampage in his chest. It felt good to feel this way, whatever this was. It was like a blend of shallow euphoria and peace.
"No kissing," Leo ordered and shook his thigh to prevent Nick from doing anything else.
"Why not?"
"Because we barely know each other, and kissing strangers isn't a normal thing in Japan, Mr. Foreigner," Leo said with slight disgust.
"My name is Nick Pines. I'm twenty-three years old. I've lived in France my whole life until I was sixteen. My mom died giving birth to me, but my dad is still around. I like body-modifications, cats, tea, and art galleries. I'm fortunate to have such a wealthy family because my great-grandfather sacrificed everything that he had to grow a watch company, as well as a whole new different one for candy. I moved to Japan to expand my own company and-"
"Wait just a second there," Leo said. "Telling me all there is about yourself doesn't tell me anything about your character. I can't just automatically fall in love with you now that I know these things about you. You need to give me time too."
"I will. I want to know more about you too. Tell me about yourself, mon beau," Nick requested as he continued to rub Leo's ass. He had to admit that the lotion was really doing a great job with combatting the stinging and burning he had felt moments before. Not only did it soothe the pain, but being touched by his mate stirred unfamiliar feelings within him. Touch was a very special occurrence between mates. It brought them together.
But Leo didn't want to grow any more close. He was already being too generous with how he let Nick have things go his way, and he needed to stop doing so before he fell for him.
"I'm nineteen. Born and raised in Akihabara. I did well in school but didn't move on to university. My whole family died, which consisted of my parents and my sister. I like street food and video games. I work from home. I don't make as much as I'd like but it's better than nothing."
"What specifically do you do for work?" Nick asked curiously.
"Well as you know, I'm a hacker. Companies hire me to hack into their rival's system to essentially mess them up," Leo continued. Nick could probably call the cops if he wanted to, but Leo knew that he wouldn't. An alpha would never do such a thing to their own omega, and although they haven't known one another for too long, Leo knew that Nick was already falling too deep with the idea of having a mate.
"Cute and smart. Nice."
"I'm not cute," Leo protested.
"You should come work for me," Nick proposed.
"Me? Work for you? No thanks."
"You don't even know what my company is all about yet," Nick complained as set the lotion to the side. His hands crept up underneath Leo's shirt and traced his spine. He shivered. "I can give you a high position, and you'd get great pay."
"What's the point in having money if you won't even let me leave?" Unlike the kissing, Leo didn't attempt to tell Nick off for touching him. It was already physically painful enough to tell him to stop kissing his skin, so he was at least allowing him to touch him. It would be enough for now.
"I never said I wouldn't let you leave. I'm just afraid you'll run away. I'll let you leave the premises to do whatever you want once you learn not to leave me again."
Leo described himself as someone whose heart was hard to access due to the stone wall he built around it, but he felt himself letting go and it was al; Nick's fault. He didn't want to give in to his omega instincts, but the blond man's words were making it harder and harder for him.