She cocks her head. “I thought you did that just because I’m injured.”
I shake my head. “No. I will always cook and clean for you. Sometimes I will feed you myself. It gives me pleasure to take care of you in every way. It’s instinctive.”
She clenches her thighs again. “You’re not going to make me wear diapers and take bottles, are you?”
I lift her chin. “Little love, sometimes I will diaper you and bottle feed you. You will learn to submit deeply to me as a way of showing your love. You will understand that when I care for all of your needs, it’s how I show you my love. It deepens our bond every time you turn your care over to me.”
She shudders. “That’s a weird custom, Navin.”
“Daddy,” I remind her.
She bites into her bottom lip, her huge brown eyes filled with concern.
Chapter Nine
Brea
Daddy… I’ve called him that several times. It has connotations that make me nervous, but he’s made it clear that those connotations are exactly what he intends. He wants to care for me as though I were younger.
I’m learning that his need to dominate me so totally is innate. It’s part of him. He can’t deny it. But can I learn to accept it?
“Daddy…” I say softly because it pleases him, and I love it when he smiles at me with approval.
He motions with a finger for me to turn, so I obey him, and I don’t regret it. The moment he starts brushing through my tangles, I begin to purr. That’s what it is. Purring. I don’t think I’ve ever made this contented sound before, but he brings it out of me.
I tip my head back and close my eyes, hoping he never stops brushing my hair. I can’t recall when someone last did this for me. I assume my mother did when I was very young, but I don’t remember it.
“So soft,” he whispers. “I could run my fingers through your hair all day.” He’s using both hands now, brushing and stroking.
“I’m okay with that,” I murmur. I’m lulled into a very relaxed state.
“May I braid it now?” he asks.
“You know how to braid hair?” I’m surprised. It’s one thing to brush it out. It’s another thing entirely to style it.
He gasps dramatically. “Of course. What kind of Daddy would I be if I couldn’t braid my Little girl’s hair?”
I giggle. He makes me feel lighter than I’ve ever felt. I’ve carried the weight of the world for so many years. I’ve always had to worry about finances. How I would pay the rent on my trailer. The electric, gas, and water bills. Food.
For the first day in years, I’m not concerned with being warm or eating. It’s too good to be true. How can I possibly trust this to last?
Yesterday, a man who intended to sell me as a sex slave left me for dead in the woods. Today, I’m sitting in a warm cabin being doted on by a lion shifter who says he intends to care for me for the rest of my life in this fashion.
I’m scared. I’ll be devastated if he changes his mind. Already I’m attached to him. Physically and emotionally. I know he says there’s no going back, but I have no experience with shifters. They’ve always been illusive species that lived on the fringe of society and didn’t factor into my life at all.
As far as I know, I’ve never met one. Though I get that it’s possible I interacted with a shifter at some point without knowing it, I never dreamed of a scenario like this.
Navin seems to think I was fated to be in his path. I’m not sure about that. I’ve never believed in Fate. How could I? If She exists in my world, She’s either had a shitty way of showing it or She didn’t think I was worthy of good things.
But here I am.
Daddy finishes braiding my hair in a long, thick row down my back. He secures it with a band and drops it over my shoulder. “There. How’d I do?”
I twist around, rise onto my knees, and wrap my arms around his neck. “Do I really get to stay here?”
He rubs my back. “Always, Little love. Forever.” When he stands, he cups my bottom, and I bring my legs as far around his waist as I can. The wound on my thigh doesn’t hurt at all. It’s like magic. Every time I look at it, I’m reminded that Navin absolutely has undeniable powers.
If I’d been found by a human and somehow survived transportation to a hospital, I would be lying in a room now hooked up to machines, my leg immobilized, an IV keeping me alive with fluids. No one would be certain I would survive.
