Riding the Storm (7 page)

“You may look up now, Kendra.”

Damn, looking up was harder than she’d thought it’d be.
Having her naked and him fully clothed forced her to acknowledge she’d handed
power over to him, and while she’d done it voluntarily and wanted to be here,
she was still fighting herself — other than Abbott’s control over her,
which he rarely pushed, she’d been in control of her own choices, her own
willpower
,
for a millennia.

She looked up and into his eyes, and knew she had the gaze
of a submissive. She’d been on the receiving end enough, and it was difficult
to realize, but she reminded herself again how much she wanted to be here, with
Eric, doing this. Because no matter how hard it might be, it was turning her
on.
He
was turning her on, making her body react, and she couldn’t deny
she was looking forward to seeing what he chose to do to her. His strength and
control, not to mention the scent of his arousal, and how the tempo of his
heart had changed when he’d walked in and saw her.

Wow
, she’d known there was strength in submission,
but this was a reminder of how submission gave a different kind of power.

His smile was gentle as he stroked her cheek and said, “I
realize under normal circumstances it isn’t safe for a submissive to allow
herself to be restrained by someone she just met. However, since you can use
your mind thing to call Abbott, and then he’d probably kill me, or perhaps just
make me wish I was dead, if he found out I hadn’t respected a safeword…” He
leaned in, kissed her forehead, put his cheek to hers a few seconds, and then
stood to continue. “I think it’ll be easier for you if you’re restrained.
You’re having trouble submitting, and I want to free you so you don’t have a
choice anymore — not unless you want to tell me about storm clouds, of
course.”

Kendra readily agreed, mainly because she wasn’t afraid of
giving up control by being tied with rope, because rope couldn’t hold her.

Eric continued. “Before you agree, you should know this is
heavy duty rappelling rope meant for rescue operations.” He pointed to one of
the bundles. “You aren’t supposed to put more than fourteen hundred pounds on
this rope, but it’s been lab tested to hold up to sixty-five hundred pounds.”
He pointed to the other bundle. “That one’s been tested to hold up to nine
thousand pounds, and you already know they’re coated to resist fraying and
tearing when they scrape over rocks.”

Shit
. Depending on how he restrained her, there was a
good chance she wouldn’t be able to get out of it. Considering the fact Abbott
had warned him not to tie her
to
anything, he’d probably tie legs to
ankles or wrists to immobilize her, and he likely knew how to tie a good knot,
considering he boated and rappelled.

“Kendra, look back down at your feet, please, and listen to
me a moment.” He waited for her to look down and continued. “I want to free you
from the conflict you feel about submitting, so you can enjoy what I do to you.
I promise to give you both pain and pleasure tonight, and I promise to respect
your safewords. If you need to stop and talk about something we will, if you
need stop the scene, it ends. However, I think you need help getting jump-started
into submission. Do you trust me to restrain you?”

She took a breath to settle her nerves and told him, “I’m
scared, but I trust you. Sir.”

“I kind of want you a little scared, but only wary of the
unknown, not afraid for your safety. Can you tell me which kind of scared you
feel?”

“Scared of the unknown, Sir.”

“One more question, look at me for this one, please? I
should’ve asked you this before we started the scene. Don’t answer this one
with Sir, I’m not asking you this as a submissive, okay?”

“Okay.”

“How far do you want me to go tonight? Are you ready for
sex? Or should I stop before we get there?”

Kendra smiled, and once again realized her face muscles
weren’t used to it. Eric made her smile without thinking of it, and for that,
she’d give him the world, if she could. “The whole drinking your blood and
making our auras mix thing usually happens after sex, so I think it’s pretty
safe to say we’re close enough for sex.”

He gave her a slanted grin, not a full smile, and yet her
breath caught as she noted he didn’t just smile with his mouth, but his entire
face — his eyes were happy, his brows lifted. “Not quite the answer I
expected, and certainly one I’ve never had before, but I think you’re right,”
his face went more serious, his eyes darkened, and the spicy sent of arousal
once more flooded the room, “it seemed as intimate as sex, maybe even more so.
Anything else you want to say before I ask you to you climb on the bed so I can
restrain you?”

“Yes. I can’t get diseases and can’t act as a carrier unless
I go immediately from one person to another, which I haven’t done tonight,
obviously. I also can’t get pregnant, so a condom isn’t necessary. If you want
to use one anyway I’ll understand, but, it isn’t needed.”

“Anything else?”

“No, Sir.”

“Please turn and face the bed, legs apart.”

He was all business now, giving orders he expected to be
followed, and her knees threatened to go weak as she turned, which was
ridiculous for an ancient vampire. What was this man doing to her?

Eric ran his hands down her back, over her bottom, down her
thighs. Such a simple touch, and yet so hard to stand still for it, without
reacting, without turning to reciprocate.

Harder, still, to remain motionless while he bound her
thighs with the rope, around and around, and then around some more, before
knotting it in the front between her legs. He tossed the rest of the rope to
the other side of the bed and told her to lay down. This put her lying across
the line of rope, with the bulk in its neat loop up above her head.

“Hands in reverse prayer please.”

Reverse prayer is just as it sounds — hands palm to
palm, facing up, between the shoulder blades. Kendra put her hands into
position, and Eric pulled the rope tight over one shoulder, bound it around her
wrists several times, and then knotted the rope again without cutting it. If
she tried to stand or in any way move her hips back, it would pull her arms
painfully up, towards the back of her head.

This wasn’t just about the strength of the rope, but the way
he put her into it — with the rope tied so high on her thighs, she
couldn’t get the leverage to try to pop the ropes open down there, and she
couldn’t pull her arms down enough in back to obtain enough force to pull them
apart, either.

He wasn’t done yet, though. He rested the rope over her
other shoulder, and tipped her sideways enough to run it back down towards her
waist again. He looped it through the ropes there and then continued down to
her feet, winding the rope around her ankles ten times before making another
knot.

She knew how many loops he made because she silently counted
them, knowing each additional circuit reduced the odds of her breaking free.

Kendra wasn’t getting out of this, and she was suddenly
terrified.

His hands swept up to her lower back, touched her hands, soothed
her as he said, “I know Abbott said I don’t have to worry about circulation,
but I have to ask anyway — is anything too tight? I went around your
wrists and ankles more than I would have for a... well, more than I normally
would. I need to be sure it’s okay.”

Kendra’s terror faded, replaced with the knowledge he’d take
care of her, he’d make it good. She drew in enough air to say, “It’s okay. I
can completely stop my circulation for years and hibernate, if I need to.
Pieces of me won’t fall off and die if they go without adequate blood supply.”

She felt a slap on her bottom and she could hear the warning
his voice as he said, “You only have one rule right now, Kendra. Did you forget
something?”

Blood surged into her clit, the throb matching the beat of
Eric’s heart. “Sir. My circulation is okay,
Sir
.”

He walked to a chest and opened it to reveal floggers
hanging from the back and lots of drawers below.

When he turned around with a butt plug, she immediately
said, “Raindrops.”

He stopped and looked at her a few heartbeats, sat the plug
on the shelf, and came to her. He knelt until he was eye level and asked, “What
is it, Kendra?”

“I haven’t had anything in my ass for… I don’t know, at
least a thousand years. I don’t eat solid food, so it hasn’t even been used as
a human would normally use it. I’m not telling you it’s off limits, but plugs
probably are at this point. Even small ones, Sir.”

He didn’t look upset or frustrated, and his scent was…
intrigued? He gave her a gentle smile as he told her, “Okay, thanks for telling
me. We’ll work on it later, but we
will
work on it until you’re ready to
be taken in the ass.” He caressed her cheek and stood. “I’m going to spank you
now. Two hard strikes with a slapper — one on each cheek — and then
I’ll back off and warm you up properly before being harsh again. The warm up
will be the slapper and a variety of floggers. Depending on how you respond,
I’ll finish with either a belt or cane. Is there any reason for me to not use
any of those implements?”

“The cane? Sir? I thought you were going to go easy on me at
first?”

“I am. I’ll use it or the belt, depending on how you
respond. You’ll be warmed up, and it isn’t my intention to give you more than
you can handle. If you aren’t enjoying the pain, I won’t use it.” He bent
again, kissed her cheek. “I know we haven’t built up much trust yet, but can
you trust me to take care of you?”

“I’m scared.”

“I know.”

He stood, walked to the chest, returning with the slapper.

“You didn’t say Sir, Kendra.
Again
. Two strikes
that’ll hurt has turned into six — three on each cheek, and
then
I’ll warm you up properly.”

He walked behind her and, without warning, brought the thick
leather down on her right cheek and then her left. Her ass stung like crazy,
and the pain lingered more than Kendra thought it should.
Damn
, that
hurt. And then he did it again, this time right then left.

She didn’t scream, didn’t breathe, and sealed her eyes and
mouth closed. She deserved this. She’d only had one rule, and she’d forgot.

“Kendra, you need to breathe.”

“Sir, actually, I don’t. Sir. I mean, if I’m going to talk
then I do because my vocal cords need air to make sound, but, I can shut down
bodily functions at will, so I don’t really need to breathe, Sir.”

The last two hits were much harder than the other four. She
gasped at the intensity, and felt the burn grow worse for at least a minute
before levelling off.

“Now, I’ll warm you up. When I get back up to strikes the
intensity of the two you just received, I’ll tell you so you can compare what
you can take cold compared to what you can take warmed up.”

His voice, while matter-of-fact, was gentle and caring,
affectionate, and her heart warmed. He hadn’t asked for a response, but she
nodded her head, and he ran his hand down the back of her head, a soft touch to
connect before the slapper began a regular rhythm on her bottom.

The weight and bulk of the smooth leather fell, again and
again — not enough energy behind the strikes to hurt, but enough to cause
a little discomfort, and
now
Kendra breathed through it. He probably
gave her thirty strikes at a low intensity before he put more muscle into it,
and though Kendra knew these blows were harder, they didn’t hurt. In fact, they
were starting to feel good. She tried to move her hips around, but the ropes
tugged at her hands over the tops of her shoulders.

Another thirty strikes later the hits grew even harder, but
now they only upped her arousal level until she could feel the borrowed blood
in her veins warm her entire groin — and her clit continued to throb to
the beat of Eric’s heart.

It wouldn’t take much for her to orgasm, and she desperately
wanted something inside her.

He stopped long enough to tell her, “These strikes are the
same intensity as the ones I gave you at the beginning.”

Wow
. This felt good, and those first strikes had
really
hurt.

He stopped, and she squirmed as his fingers delved into her
folds. “You’re soaking wet, Kendra. You like this, don’t you?”

No sense telling a lie. “Yes Sir, I think so.”

“You’re ready for a flogger now, as I can give you a better
rhythm with it. I won’t restrict your orgasms today — you don’t have to
warn me or ask me. You won’t always have this kind of permission, but you have
enough other things going on today, I think.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

The first few strikes weren’t hard, but as she sank into the
rhythm, he added force. Each stroke hurt, but it also felt good and she didn’t
want it to end. As he kept it up, the cadence combined with the mix of pain and
pleasure had her so close to orgasm she couldn’t stand it, but she couldn’t
bring herself to ask for help finding release. Her skin was on fire, each
caress of the stinging strands lighting a new fire as it fanned the old, but
she couldn’t move her hips without pulling her hands farther up her back. She
could only lie still and take it.

When he stopped with no warning, she moaned at the loss.

“You want more pain, don’t you, Kendra?”

Damn, he was right. She didn’t just want it, she
needed
it. She pushed her bottom up, and gave a small yelp as her shoulders were
torqued more than she expected from the pull, but still told him, “Yes, Sir.
Please
.”

His hand felt cool on her bottom, and she relaxed as he
rubbed and soothed her, but then tensed as he said, “I think you’re ready for
the cane.”

He hung the flogger back in the chest, and lifted something
else. When he turned, he held the cane so she could see.