John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 81

Jonoco and I trailed behind as Kartogo went outside followed by Shatalto, who had to be helped by Raalto and Barago. Maia hadn't left with my other mates and so I asked her to bring Prince, King and Rover along in case Kartogo decided to try making an escape.

He didn't try to get away but he did complain bitterly about being led out into the cold naked. I don't think he was cheered by my telling him that he wouldn't have to suffer long. Never the less I was good to my word and when we got well clear of my cave's entrance I put my Glock to the back of his head and did it. Jonoco took his cue from me and did away with Shatalto while Raalto and Barago were still holding him up.

Bigglieo and his bunch had already started a small fire on a piece of a skin covering from one of the huts we had disassembled and brought here; as it caught they added more and more fuel and within about thirty minutes is was going good. Raalto, Barago, Jonoco, Maia and I left the grisly task with them and went back into my cave.

We went to the table to sit and after Maia had sent the wolves into the bedroom she got us some coffee. Conversation was sporadic for a while and then Georgo and Dotallto joined us.

"John, I happened to hear that you only sent your mates to fetch Miekadakta, was Sateala involved in the plot?" he asked.

"I would rather it not become common knowledge but she was slightly; for a short time at least."

"Will she be killed too then?" he asked.

"No, I could never bring myself to kill a woman or have one killed. Her part in it was slight and she had no foreknowledge of the first attempt. After that she was able to figure out what they were up to and she was going to help them until she learned about their plans to capture Deimeta; she balked then and refused to help further."

"Will she go completely unpunished then?" Dotallto asked.

"I was hoping that I could persuade her new mate to take care of her punishment somehow."

Everyone at the table looked at me strangely then, it was as if they didn't understand what I was talking about. No one said anything but I could tell that what I'd said hadn't made sense to them. I thought that I'd been clear so I began to wonder if there was something that I didn't understand.

"I assumed, since Failiela killed Jarto and since Failiela isn't a woman yet and is still living with Racaato, that Sateala would become another of Racaato's mates."

This statement was met with complete silence. Then all of them began looking around at each other, seeming to be trying to decide who would tell me the error of my thinking.

"That would not be according to our customs John, it would be very much against them in two ways in fact," Georgo finally told me.

"Then who should be her mate according to custom, I don't mind if she doesn't become Racaato's mate but I can't see any other connection that would determine whose mate she should be."

"Sateala should become your mate John," Dotallto said.

"My mate! What custom could make her my mate?"

"It is common knowledge that Failiela is to become your mate when she becomes a woman, everyone in camp knows or at least assumes that. It is also a fact that Failiela killed Jarto during his attack on you and your daughter. It is plainly apparent that Jarto was killed because of his actions against you and Deimeta. You have said often that Deimeta is your daughter," Georgo explained.

"I assumed since Failiela was still living as Racaato's daughter that he would need to take Sateala as a mate."

"According to custom that would never be the case. When an unmated child kills a mated man, that man's mate never goes to the child's father. If the child is a boy, he takes the woman. If the child is a girl, the man's mate either lives as an unmated woman again or if a man is involved in whatever happened he takes her. You were directly involved in two ways. There is also the fact that Failiela is going to become your mate. You have said that you want her to be your mate and she has agreed to become your mate. Everyone here will see it as your responsibility to take Sateala." Georgo said.

The way he put it made sense to me even though I didn't like it one bit. Now I would have two new mates, one that saved me from being killed and another that had once planned to help kill me. What a mess. I was also going to have to think of some way to punish one of my new mates and I think that was the part I dreaded most of all.

"I see now that you are right and that Sateala will have to become my mate but I will not take her unless she agrees."

"You need not worry on that count, she will agree since she knows that no other man would take her if she was involved with the planning to kill you," Raalto said.

"I am counting on all of you to keep that a secret."

"I'm sure that we all will but if you beat her for punishment everyone will know that it must have been something very serious for you to beat a new mate," Dotallto said.

"I will not be beating her for her punishment, I would never beat a woman. I will find a way to punish her that will stay a secret also."

"In any case that is not our business," Georgo said.

I guess that they could see I didn't want to go over this any further; they finished their coffee and deserted me. I was deep in thought and by myself except for Maia. She came over to ask if I wanted more coffee and when she was by me I pulled her into my lap and hugged her to me.

"I guess you heard what they told me?"

"Yes, but I didn't need to hear it; we all knew from the start that you would need to take Sateala, we were already planning on it and were surprised that you didn't mention her when you sent us for Miekadakta," she said.

"Do you think it will be acceptable if I don't send for her tonight and wait for a couple of days at least?"

"No one will say anything but they will talk about it and wonder why it is," she said.

"I guess I will have to say that it was just a mistake and send everyone for her tonight too."

Just then Geera, Dieta and most of the rest of my mates came back in from the tunnel to the residences. Miekadakta was with them, near the head of the procession and to my amazement Sateala was right behind her. Geera led them over toward me and as they approached I saw that Miekadakta could barely suppress her smile but Sateala, while trying to look happy, actually seemed a little afraid.

"I'm glad to see that you brought both of my new mates. I'll have to confess that I thought Failiela had given Racaato the pleasure of Sateala's company. It's just another example of my ignorance of your customs and this time I am so glad that I was mistaken."

"But John, a child would never be allowed to acquire a mate for his or her father, if they could there would be children killing men all the time," Geera said.

"I understand now my mate but I didn't before, I just made an assumption and it was a wrong one. Let's all go into the bedroom and get to know each other."

"Don't be so anxious my mate, you will have plenty of time to get to know Miekadakta and Sateala. We are not finished with their things yet and we still need to help Jaiya and Danieta with Meliena's things," Dieta said.

"At least let me speak to them first. Miekadakta and Sateala, I know that custom says you should become my mates but I want you to know that I do not demand it if you don't agree. You are free to return to unmated woman status or to mate any other man. I will be glad to have you as mates if you want it but I will not force you.

"I also want to tell you that if you do decide to become my mates I will insist that you are never with another man and if you are I will kill him and punish you severely."

"I am looking forward to being one of your mates John," Miekadakta said.

"I am also, and I will never be with another man," Sateala said.

"Good, it makes me happy and I hope that I will make all of my mates happy. I will let you return to your work now. Do you need me to help you?"

"We can take care of everything, you sit here and drink your coffee. If she can stand it we will let Maia stay here to keep you company," Shelalliea said.

"It will be difficult but I think that I can bear up," Maia said and then laughed.

They left toward the bedroom then and in a few seconds Maia nibbled on my earlobe.

"Where were we when they came in John?" she asked

"I don't remember Maia, do you?"

"Not exactly but I know when you pull one of us into your lap we are usually panting and trembling before long. Are you going to make me pant and tremble?" she asked.

"I should but I don't think I can do a proper job of it just now. You must not tell until I let the others know but things are not exactly as they seem with Sateala."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I will tell everyone later tonight after all the moving is over, until then I want to just sit here holding you in my arms and think about it."

"Very well, I'll just nibble around on you a little to keep reminding you I'm here," she said, going back to my earlobe with her nibbling and causing more distraction than I'd expected.

Even while Maia was nibbling around on me my mind returned to my dilemma. I had to punish Sateala in some manner and I couldn't think of a way to make it seem adequate without giving her a beating. Face it; the subtleties of corporal punishment weren't highly developed during the time of the hunter/gatherers. If you pissed someone off you got killed or got a severe beating; that was pretty much the range I had to work with.

Some might not think it was very important but I felt that getting in on a plot to kill me deserved more than a minor tongue-lashing. What I really thought she needed was a good old-fashioned spanking. Mmm... Spanking.

That's it! None of them even knew what a spanking was and if I did it right, with a solemn expression and serious demeanor, I thought that I might pull it off. I could also be careful to emphasize the humiliation to help reinforce the lesson I was trying to get across.

Danlo came in then and Maia got up to get him some coffee. I asked him if he thought it would be all right if Deimeta stayed with them tonight and he agreed. I could tell that he assumed I wanted to make sure that she wasn't kept awake while I was getting to know my two new mates. He was right but he was wrong too. I didn't want to keep Deimeta awake but I wouldn't be getting to know my mates in the manner he expected.

Danlo and I talked about small things for a while and soon enough my mates were back and finished. Deimeta and Failiela were with them and Deimeta came to sit on my lap.

"Daddy, is it ok if I spend the night with Failiela tonight?" she asked.

"It is fine with me, did you two ask Erieta?"

"Yes, she told us to make sure that you thought it would be all right. Since it is we are going back to their quarters now," she said, kissing me on the cheek before they left.

"That lets you off the hook then Danlo."

"I'm not going to tell Malooto that his playmate has abandoned him for another," he said and we laughed.

When my mates were through putting things away in the bedroom they all came back to the kitchen. They sort of stood around until Danlo got the hint and left. They expected me to go with them then and I knew it. They were excited over what they thought was going to happen soon and I hated the thought of disappointing them. I had it to do though so I got up and followed.

Their excitement had picked up a notch by the time I was in the room with them and to keep things down to a roar I spoke out.

"I know that most of you are expecting a fun time tonight but I'm afraid it is not to be. One of you is keeping a secret that she hopes I'll never discover; aren't you, Sateala?"

I think that she feared what was coming when I started speaking and I hadn't bothered to look around, I'd been looking right at her. Near panic flashed across her face when I mentioned her name and then her shoulders slumped in resignation and her eyes found something on the floor to look at.

"I know your secret Sateala, I want you to tell it to all the others."

I was using the sternest tone that I thought I could pull off. No matter how serious this was, I nearly laughed when she seemed to gulp before speaking.

"I knew that they were planning to kill you John. I didn't know it before the celebration but I figured it out the next morning when I heard them talking about their failure," she said.

The happy and excited mood of my mates was gone already and I could see that Dieta, Roweea, Merita, Maia, Ameliea and even Delia were tensed in anger already. I had to make sure that they knew it was my responsibility and my place to dish out the punishment so I broke into Sateala's story.

"Before we go any further you all must understand that I will be deciding on and administering Sateala's punishment. Some of you may feel angry over what she is going to tell us but I don't want you doing anything but listening."

Most of them tried to speak up then.

"Be quiet. I am your mate and your leader and we will do this my way. I don't want any arguments."

They were surprised but stayed quiet. It wasn't the normal way I did things but it wasn't a normal situation either. I was going to have the last word though, whether they liked it or not. There would be plenty of time later to make it up to them all, including Sateala. I was determined to have a happy and peaceful home life and I knew that letting any of my mates participate in this would not help. I told Sateala to continue then.

"I told Jarto that I knew what they had planned to do and after he talked to me I agreed to help them. I was afraid that no good would come from it and now I can't believe that I went along but I did, for a while at least.

"Later, when Kartogo, Shabago and Shatalto came to our place and began planning to try again I told them that I would try to lure you to take me at the next celebration. I had assumed that they would try the same thing again.

"They didn't want to wait that long though. When they came up with the scheme to kidnap Deimeta I told them no and that I wouldn't have any part of it. Shatalto and Kartogo threatened to kill me if I said anything and then Jarto began arguing with them. I was afraid that they would fight among themselves then. I told them again that I was through with their plot but that I wouldn't say anything to anyone else. Shabago said that he would watch me and make sure that I didn't.

"Tonight, after the torturing and screaming I was sure that I would be killed just as they were. I was surprised when I wasn't and I hoped that somehow they hadn't mentioned my part. I couldn't believe that they wouldn't but I hoped. Now I know that they must have. I know that I was wrong. I'm just glad that I have no children to be orphans after I'm killed too," she finally finished.

"You were wrong to consider helping them Sateala and you will be punished. You will not be killed though."

I paused and stared at her face until she looked up into mine.

"You are one of my mates now and are a part of my family. Even though at the time of your actions you were not part of my family I am still disappointed with you. You actively planned to help bring about my death and later your inaction nearly brought about the death of my daughter, Deimeta.

"Deimeta is barely six years old and has suffered enough for a lifetime already. You spoke earlier of not wanting to leave orphans but Deimeta was an orphan before I found her and it doesn't seem that you were worried that she might be orphaned again or even killed herself."

I had never really spanked a woman as punishment before and in fact had only done it twice at all; both those times were as a prelude to sex and were at the woman's request. This was different; Sateala needed to be punished and more than the physical punishment she needed to feel the humiliation of having it done in front of the rest of her new family. I was going to cause pain when I spanked her but I wasn't counting on the pain to do the whole job. The humiliation was what I was counting on to modify her thinking.

"You will be punished here and now and all the rest of your family, except Deimeta, will watch it. Take off all your clothes and kneel before me."

She cringed visibly at my words and her face seemed to be pleading but after a few seconds she began removing her things. I glanced around at my other mates and they seemed spellbound as they watched. After my earlier admonishment they had been totally silent. As Sateala finished, by pulling her tunic off over her head, I noticed that tears were already leaking from her eyes.

I sat on the edge of the bed since I would need to be seated to do this right; also I needed to disguise dicky's excitement. Sateala was a beautiful woman and though small she was voluptuous, with big firm breast, womanly hips and the muscular well shaped ass that all women of this time seemed to own. It wasn't the time to show her how much I wanted her; it was time to punish her and I had to keep my lust in check and hidden from all of them.

"Crawl to your mate and master so that you can receive the reward for your treachery."

She shuddered and tears flowed afresh at my instructions. She was already kneeling and she dropped to her hands and crawled to me, shivering and moaning lowly in her embarrassment.

"Kneel beside my legs and then lay your chest across my knees," I told her as she reached me.

She did it but looking at her tear stained face I knew that she had no idea what would happen next. Glancing around at my other mates I could see that this was completely new and unexpected for all of them.

"All the rest of you gather round so that you can see what Sateala's deceit has earned her," I told them with all the authority I could force into my voice.

When Sateala was in position across my legs and while my other mates were moving to get a closer view, I put my left hand on her far shoulder to hold her in place and began stroking lightly across her back, over her buttocks and as far down on the backs of her thighs as I could reach without bending.

I sensed that the others were still and watching now and without saying anything else I raised my right hand, stiffened my fingers and brought it down with considerable force against Sateala's right ass cheek, smacking her smartly. She was completely surprised, as they all were, and she couldn't help crying out in pain.

A wicked red handprint had appeared on her butt and I raised my hand so that all the others could see it while Sateala whimpered and wiggled slightly.

"Count the slaps as I give them to you Sateala, and thank me for your punishment after every one," I told her.

Sateala just whimpered more loudly and said nothing.

"The count Sateala and my thank you. I know how many you are to receive but if you can't count them for me and thank me I will never know when to stop," I told her.

"That... that was one and I thank you for it," she said finally and whimpered again.

I caressed her back and sides to calm her and to add to the suspense. I gave her another wicked slap, on the left cheek this time, after about thirty seconds and as I'd hoped it caught her off guard again. She screeched and bawled loudly and wiggled from the pain and for the first time I understood what my father had always said about it hurting him more than it did me. I wasn't in physical pain but even though I barely knew Sateala my heart hurt for her and what she was going through.

"That was two my mate and I thank you for it," she said after she had calmed herself.

I was back to caressing her skin now and was already sick of this. I knew that I had to keep it up for a while though. I had originally thought that I would give her twenty-five licks but I knew now that I could never last that long. I just didn't have it in me. After the third spank, down on the back of her thigh, Sateala was sobbing loudly and could hardly tell me the count and give me the thank you that I'd required of her.

I managed to make it through to ten licks on her backside. The skin on her ass and down the backs of her legs was flaming red by now and Sateala was a quivering moaning wreck. I was a wreck inside too and I doubt that Sateala was any happier that it was over than I was.

I pulled her up to sit on my lap and she did it gingerly. Hugging her to me and kissing her cheek, I tried to calm her.

"Sateala, I'm begging you to never make me punish you again. All of you, please never make me punish you."

I looked around into their faces and I could see that at some time during the process all of them had begun crying though none of them had made any sounds.

"Sateala is part of our family and she has had her punishment. We will all treat her as one of us now; she has paid for her mistake. We will never tell anyone else what she did or about her punishment. Do you all agree?"

I took the time to look at each one of them and make sure that they understood. I waited for them to give me a sign of acknowledgement before moving to the next. When they all had I asked Eileiea if she had something that we could put on Sateala's tender bottom that would make the pain less and she went to fetch her medical bag.

I stood, holding Sateala in my arms and asked the others to pull the covers back so that I could lay her on the bed. When they had I put Sateala down, on her front, near the edge. Her poor ass and the backs of her thighs were still red and angry looking. I could tell that the temper that had flared in my other mates when they learned of her collaboration with the coup was gone now. It had been replaced by sympathy. I had hoped for this.

Hearing about Sateala's involvement had been a shock for them but after all it was only an academic thing. Watching her suffer through the punishment and seeing the results on her tortured skin was visceral and immediate and their natural kindness and empathy came to the fore.

As for me, I was whipped myself. I'd always been a big, strong man and here and now I was even bigger and stronger. It seemed to me that I'd always felt protective toward women. In my old life it was considered chauvinistic at best but I'd felt that men, who were bigger and stronger, had a duty to look out for women simply because they were smaller and weaker. The physical punishment that I'd inflicted on Sateala went against everything I'd ever believed but in this situation I hadn't been able to find an alternative that I had confidence in.

I was glad that it was over and while Eileiea smeared some type of cream or lotion over Sateala's bruised backside I sat on the floor and tried not to look, trying my hardest not to cry myself over what I'd been forced to do.