“Good girl,” Terra smiles as you tentatively move your fingers from between your legs, leaving yourself vulnerable to her punishment.

“Please, ma’am,” you whimper. “I am sorry. I did forget.”

“What did you forget?” Her palm is low on your belly, her eyes warm but intense.

“You…” you say, in almost a whisper. “I mean, not you, of course. I mean, I know who you are, but I…”

“You forgot that I am not someone to be crossed lightly, Cadet. And you probably still don’t know the lengths to which I would go to maintain control when necessary. But you forgot something even more important. Something I told you at the very beginning when you first joined this unit.”

You gulp. “What, ma’am?”

She leans in further, a fraction of an inch bringing her impossibly close. “What you really forgot, Cadet, is that I own you.”

Her words send a bolt of electricity racing down your spine. They might have felt like they were only words then, but you feel the weight and truth of them now.

Flat on your back, Terra’s hand sliding back toward the mound of your sex, you start to realize what she really meant.

“If you had behaved yourself in a manner befitting a soldier, I wouldn’t be doing this,” she murmurs. “But you taunted me, Cadet. You practically begged me for a demonstration. Didn’t you?”

Her fingers extend to tap your pussy lightly, just above your clit. There is no pain this time, it is not a harsh motion but more of a gentle pat.

“Uhm… yes… ma’am…” You’re quivering, not knowing if you want her to touch you more, even if it means some pain, or have her draw away again.

She smiles, satisfied. “I think you should apologize and go to bed, Cadet,” she says. “I don’t think you’d like what comes next.”

You let out a little whimper of disappointment. The sting from her first slaps has abated into a warmth which makes your lower lips tingle. You’re aroused now, and you desperately want the release which has been denied to you so many times.

“I think I would,” you whimper.

“Cadet,” Terra shakes her head. “I am not going to pleasure you after you disrespected me. That would send the entirely wrong message, wouldn’t it.”

“I guess,” you admit with a sad little sigh.

To your surprise, Terra stays laying next to you, her hand on your belly, keeping the contact and intimacy.

“You’ve had a hard time, haven’t you, Cadet?” She says sympathetically. “And I know I haven’t made it any easier for you, nor has Sarah. I will be reining her in. You won’t have to put up with her bullying you anymore, alright?” Her hand moves over your stomach in a gentle rubbing motion.

“Thank you ma’am,” you smile a little. You can still feel that heat between your lower lips, but it’s nice to be talked to instead of ordered around and punished.

“So,” Terra says, getting comfortable next to you. “Tell me about you and Grisham.”

“I don’t know if I should, ma’am, I mean, I know you don’t want me to be with her.”

“I don’t want the unit being disrupted,” Terra says. “But I do want to hear how you’re doing, and who you’re doing it with.”

“Well, uhm… you left me with her back at the fort,” you say. “And I guess we started to get on after a while.”

“Started to get on?” Terra raises a brow at you, her lips quirking into an understanding smile.

“Nothing happened until after Sarah and me escaped,” you say. “Nothing’s really happened at all.”

“But you’d like it to.”

“I don’t know what I want, ma’am,” you sigh. “There’s so much I want.”

“That I believe,” Terra says with a smile. “Ordinarily you’d be back at the academy, finding out what you want with the other cadets, probably getting into trouble on leave, that sort of thing. Here you’re under our thumb pretty much always. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for exploration and self discovery, does it?”

“No,” you sigh.

“And that’s one reason why I’m trying to discourage you from being with, well, anyone in this unit,” Terra says. “You’re all hormones, Cadet. And feelings come with those hormones and the two put together, they can get messy.”

You nod a little, not entirely convinced. She wouldn’t be touching you the way she is if she didn’t want you to feel something.

“Have you ever been in love before, Cadet?” Her question is resonant and warm.

You bite your lower lip.