Master of Desire (24 page)

Strike him? He hated himself for hoping  she might, for knowing he’d welcome the

sensation.

Only she didn’t hit him with it—no, her  actions were much more sinister. Arching her ass toward him, she positioned the crop’s smooth handle at her asshole and slowly, methodically began to  ease it inside.

He thought his body would burst apart from  the brutal arousal—layer after layer ofit, and now
 
this
! He couldn’t take it. “No! No, stop it!”

She pushed the crop deeper, beginning to  gently move her ass, fucking herself there. Only then did she peer brazenly over  her shoulder. “Why not? You like to watch my ass open, don’t you, slave? You like to watch my ass take something inside it.”

“You are vicious!” he spat.

She, however, remained brazenly calm. “You will beg.”

Ralen watched, entranced, his body ready to  ignite. Damn it all, he wanted  loose from this bed.
 
He
 
wanted to be the one fucking her ass with that crop.
 
Him
. He had to

have control. Had to have it. At all costs.

The ultimate pleasure-pain? It was
 
this
 
—being pleasured and having hismasculinity dashed at the same time.

Only it wasn’t
 
real
 
pleasure, like he’d given her. It was not something he wanted tohate but didn’t. He
 
truly
 
hated it. Hated how excited he was. Hated how hungry hiscock remained. Hated  his inability to resist her while he was helpless.

Each slide of the crop into the tiny opening of her ass was a torture to him.
 
He
 
hadto give her that pleasure!
 
Him and  him alone!
 
Why was she doing this to him?

He enjoyed a small measure of  relief when  she finally let the crop fall to the stonefloor next to the bed, but then she straddled his hips once more—and to his utter amazement, she leaned back, reached down, and slowly began to glide his cock into her

ass. He groaned, both from the sensation and the  sight of her lowering her anal passage over him, taking inch after inch of his rod  inside herself there. He couldn’t fathom her ability to  do this without his  help, and  he  also couldn’t prevent his moans of deep  pleasure from leaking out. It was too much. Too much.

And then she moved on him—leaned her  weight back on her arms behind her and lifted herself up and down, slowly fucking  him with her tight little ass, pushing himcloser and closer to explosion, until finally  she said, her voice wrenched with intensity,  “Beg me. Beg me or I will stop right now.”

He couldn’t  let her stop. He couldn’t bear it. He could barely breathe under theweight of his excitement. The words came  in a slow, painful whisper. “I’m begging you…mistress.” He hated himself for his weakness.

But she clearly couldn’t see that. Or she didn’t care. Clearly, all that mattered to her was winning. “Tell me you’re my slave.”

He let out a breath. Pleasure had never been more agonizing. “I’m…your…slave.”

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The light of satisfaction beamed in her eyes as she reached down to begin stroking herself, whirling her longest finger in a circle  over her grandly swollen clit. As she eased her ass up  and down, the movements grew  slightly rougher and he pushed back, fucking her tightest opening, watching her  arousal heighten, watching her finger move faster and faster over that beautiful knob of flesh at the top of her slit.

“Oh! Oh Ralen!” she cried out, and as she came, he exploded, driving up into her snug anal tunnel, finally able to release everything that  had built up so painfully insidehim. He growled his release with three gruff  thrusts, and for those few brief seconds, heaven was his.

Unfortunately, however, when he opened his eyes afterward, he was still tied to thebed, his wife’s helpless captive—and nothing was as it had been before.

He could scarcely believe it when she had  the audacity to smile as she climbed off him. And when she spoke, she sounded utterly joyful. “Now you know,” she said as merrily as if they’d just shared a fun, playful coupling. “Now you know a bit of what
 
I
feel when I submit to
 
you
.”

No, he didn’t know. Could
 
never
 
know. For her, submission was true joy. For him, it

was
  
not
, and she just didn’t understand. Didn’t understand—and had

ruined…everything.

He looked up into the blue, blue eyes he’d  fallen in love with and said, “I hate  you.”

Teesia couldn’t have been more stunned. “What?”

“I hate you  for this,” he said, his voice dry, wooden.

Oh Ares. Oh no. What had she done?
 
She covered her mouth with her hand.

She’d only been trying to deepen their mutual pleasure, and even when  he’d resisted, she’d been sure that by  the time  it was done he’d know the pure delights she experienced in the same position. She’d  been sure—but now she knew she’d been

wrong.

Perhaps the anguish in his  eyes during the sex should  have told  her. But  had shenot suffered anguish at the start, too?

Still, only now did  she grasp the truth—the truth that suddenly seemed so plain and clear to see. Ralen was not a man who ever wanted to submit, only to master.  Shaena had  told her that. As had Ralen himself. Why hadn’t she listened?

Her heart sank in her chest. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t believe she’d just recklessly taken what had so carefully and tentatively grown between them anddashed it against the rocks like  a ship at  sea. “Oh Ralen,” she said sadly, at a loss, kneeling next to him.

He yanked against the silk scarves again,  wildly, and the look on his face told herall was truly lost. He truly hated her. And there was no fixing it.

When he got loose from the ties, he would probably rip her limb from limb.

“Untie me, you heartless whore!”

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She shrank back under the ferocity of his words, truly frightened of him—in a way she’d never been before, even on their wedding night.

She knew instinctively that he’d never forgive her—that their happiness was a thing of the past.

At a loss for what to do, she leapt from  the bed, grabbed up the clothes  she’d discarded, and fled the room without looking back.

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Chapter Ten

There seemed to Teesia  only one answer, and that was to run.

She loved Ralen now, loved him desperately, and was crushed  by what had justhappened, but it was her own fault, and irreparable.
 
Why, oh why, was I so stupid? Why did I think I  knew him so well,  better than he knew himself?
 
Well, that didn’t matter now, all that mattered was getting away  from the fortress before Ralen got free. She truly believed he might rip her to shreds in his anger—and she almost couldn’t blame him.

Racing across the cool grass toward the stables, unnoticed—she hoped—by the night watchmen, she thanked  Ares for the nearly full moon that  lit her  way.  It was easyto find Vixen in the corral and lure her with  a handful of clover. A moment later, Teesiahad bridled the sorrel and led the horse to  the mounting block,  where she climbedastride her.

As her cunt stretched over the horse’s back, still sensitive from sex, she was forced to remember her husband—both the horrible scene that  she’d just brought about as wellas all the wonder, all the passion and joy she’d experienced in his arms. “Oh Ralen,” shesobbed quietly.

But this is no time for tears. You must be  strong if you are to make your way home to  Myrtell.

It should be  simple, she thought.  Follow  the  beach—and in a day or two she wouldbe home.  Maybe even sooner, for she planned to  press Vixen into a gallop for as long as the horse was able, figuring the  farther away she got from Charelton before the sun rose, the better.

And yes, Ralen would likely come for her at  her father’s fortress, and she  wasn’t sure what would happen then, but at least this was a temporary reprieve. If her father wouldn’t protect her, perhaps she’d head farther north and inland to her sister’s home in Rawley. Maybe Maven and Dane would hide her there until Ralen tired of  searchingfor his “heartless whore” of a wife.

The words still burned, and the memory of the look in his eyes tormented her, but itwas too late now. As  Vixen neared the dunes that would give  way to  the sandy coastline, Teesia looked over her shoulder  at the fortress in the distance from which she’d just fled. “Goodbye, my  dear Ralen,” she said softly. “I love  you, and I’m so sorry  I hurt you.”

* * * * *

“Laene! Shaena! Someone get into this chamber—now!”

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He couldn’t believe it! First she’d emasculated him—now the little hoyden had left

him trussed up like a deer brought home from the hunt.

“
 
Shaena! Are you out there?
” The walls were too thick, he knew—he simply had to  hope someone would pass by the door and hear him bellowing.

Reduced to crying out for help like a child, he thought bitterly. And then he  shook  his head against the bed, still trying to fathom  why Teesia had done this to him.

But perhaps it was simple—she was paying him back, reminding him how badly  he’d treated her in the beginning.  She was punishing someone who truly
 
deserved
 
to be  punished, he supposed. As for the pleasant  times they’d shared more recently, he could  only presume it was all pretense  on her part—her way of building his trust so that she  could enact her grand scheme to humiliate him.

“Laene! Shaena! Anyone! Is anyone in this entire fortress awake?”

Just then, the door opened  and Shaena burst in—horror  reshaping her face  when  she saw him.

“Don’t just stand there.  Untie me!” he barked.

“Where is Teesia?” she asked, moving to the top corner  of the bed to work at the

silk scarf.

“Gone. But when I find her…” he began through clenched teeth.

“When you  find her, what?”

He shook his head, still so deeply entrenched  in his anger that he didn’t care who  might be right or wrong—he only  knew he  wanted to do her harm, wanted to make
 
her
 
pay now. “I  don’t know  what I’ll do to the evil girl, but I can promise you this—she’s made a fool  of me for the first and last time.”

Above him, Shaena let out a heavy breath. “Made a fool of you? Is that all you can see that happened here?”

He looked up at her, met her gaze. “You knew.”

As one wrist came free, he folded his hand  into a fist, trying to get the feeling back into it. Shaena broke the gaze and made  her way around to where his other  hand wasbound. “I knew you wouldn’t  like it, and I told her that—but yes, I knew her plan. And  I hoped maybe I was wrong, that maybe you would be more charitable to the idea of permitting Teesia to have a little control in your relationship.”

He swung his gaze around to look at  her in her new spot. “Control in our relationship, she could have had—
 
did
 
have. Control in this bed, like
 
this
 
—” he motionedto his bindings, “—no, that just isn’t in me.”

Shaena nodded as she fought  at the knot. “Even so, she was simply tryingto…surprise you.”

“It worked,” he grunted.

“And ultimately to
 
please
 
you,” she went on  pointedly. “She thought that  since she  enjoyed submitting to  you so deeply that  you might discover you enjoyed submission,  too.”

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“Clearly, I have given her too much freedom,”  he said as his other hand came loose.

“Clearly, you’re taking what happened here tonight far too seriously.”

It was as the two of them finally succeeded in untying the last knots and  Ralen  reached for his pants that Laene burst in  the room—looking surprised to  see Ralen  naked with Shaena, given the recent  developments in all their lives.

Ralen was in no mood to humor him—he only snarled. “Don’t worry—your  beloved hasn’t betrayed you.” Then he sighed. “
Mine
 
has betrayed
 
me
.”

Laene’s pale eyebrows knit. “Then maybe that explains…”

“What?” Ralen jerked his head up.

“One of the guards said he saw Teesia go  racing up the beach on  horseback. I was  certain he must’ve been mistaken, but came to make sure.”

Ralen pushed to his feet. “No, the man wasn’t mistaken—my dear wife tied me up here, made a mockery  of our sex,  then apparently went haring off into the night.” He reached for the black leather vest on the floor, then raised back up.  “Let me guess. She  was heading north, fleeing home to Daddy.”