by Cate Corvin
He only let me ride him until I was panting and shaking for release before he reached up to unhook my silk wrist-ropes and gently pushed my neck, forcing me to lean forward into the bed.
The sheets were cool under my burning cheeks, and I gripped the rails of the iron headboard, my wrists still bound. My ass was in the air. The feeling of Dominic’s cock still firmly buried in my soaked pussy drew a gasp that I muffled against his sheets.
“Don’t be quiet,” he growled, pulling my hips against him. “I forbid it.”
Maybe it was the power he held over me still, but I turned my head, letting him hear every helpless gasp and cry he drew from me.
He pulled out and surged in again, starting slow and building up to a bone-rattling pounding. Bright, hot pleasure engulfed me with every stroke.
Dominic leaned forward and stretched out over me, compressing me under his solid weight. The sensation of being trapped welled up in me, but it made my blood pulse hotter than ever when his hand slipped between my legs and stroked my clit.
At this angle his cock plunged so deep it took my breath away. I moaned under him, writhing as much as possible while bound and pinned down, surrendering to his needs.
His teeth grazed my shoulder. Anticipation coiled in me. I pushed back against him, gyrating against his hand while he stroked and his cock pumped, the heat building until it was almost unbearable.
My pussy tightened around him and he groaned, his hips flexing, and slammed in hard. The weight of his body driving the thick length home was all it took to send me over the edge.
Stars exploded behind my eyes as he ground into me and bit down on my shoulder. I screamed into the mattress as my body clamped down on him, shuddering with each wave of the orgasm that swept through me, unable to do anything but ride out the almost-painfully amazing sensation.
He pushed in deeper when I tightened and let out a groan, releasing himself as he bit down on me.
My entire body finally went limp, relaxing under the solid, heavy weight of my professor. His usually taut muscles had finally loosened as well, and he kissed the bite mark on my shoulder before he began unknotting the silk ropes around my wrists and knees.
I drew in a sharp breath as I stretched out alongside him, stretching my arms and legs, but a flutter of misgiving filled my stomach.
Unlike my nights with Shane or dreams with Locke, I’d never just cuddled up against Dominic.
Our time together was always marked by bonds and dominance and ended with me leaving his office or the training ground.
I hated to admit it, but there was a moment when I thought that maybe I should’ve gotten up and pulled my uniform back on, sick with uncertainty, but he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.
The uncertainty vanished like a puff of smoke and I breathed a tiny sigh of relief.
I cushioned my head on his shoulder and flung my arm over his chest. His breathing slowed while he touched my arms, running his fingertips down to mine and back up again.
At that moment I could’ve happily stayed in Dominic’s house until the end of time, safe from Gilt, the Wardens, the unending questions swirling in my head… but even though I loved submitting to him, my stomach knotted when I thought of what he might be hiding from me.
Hell, my stomach began churning whenever I stopped to consider what I felt for him now, and the vulnerable position that put me in.
Dominic rolled onto his side and kissed me, rubbing me from my wrists to my shoulders. “Did any of it hurt?” I shook my head, and turned to kiss the soft, warm hollow of his throat.
“Good. If it ever does, promise that you’ll tell me, instead of being stubborn over it.”
I smiled, my eyelashes brushing his skin when I blinked. “I promise not to be stubborn, sir,” I whispered.
“If you keep calling me ‘sir’, you’re going to find yourself in a very precarious position, Miss Darke.”
His legs entangled with mine, pulling me closer. I couldn’t have escaped if I wanted to, and I definitely didn’t want to. Dominic, Shane, and Locke were all ridiculously brawny men, corded with muscle, and the thought of having all three of them sent a zing of heat through me.
Even Roman, and his mocking blue eyes and sexy smirk.
Aradia help me, I was becoming depraved.
“Are you going to tie me up again, sir?”
Dominic’s hand twined in my hair and pulled my head back, opening me up to him. I had nothing to resist him with. A soft gasp escaped me when he kissed down my neck to my breasts and slid his hand over my pussy.
Two fingers slipped inside me, and he held me down with his palm, so I couldn’t so much as squirm an inch.
“I don’t need ropes to hold you down.” I sucked my lower lip between my teeth when his fingers curled inside me.
He proved he didn’t need them, and it was complete ecstasy.
***
Sunday evening came too soon.
I felt like I’d been stretched, bent, and used in ways I didn’t even know was possible, but he never tired of me, consuming my body with the kind of ravenous possessiveness I associated with the therianthropes.
Dominic Steele, always so in control, completely lost that control when it was just us and I was at his mercy. He was still being gentle, not pushing me hard enough yet to need to use the safe word we’d agreed on.
Someday, I wanted him to take me to that limit.
Once he’d finally surrendered some of the control to me for a while, I’d taken my time exploring every inch of him.
I’d have happily given up my left arm to stay in his house for another week, trapped in his bed until I was satiated, but I wasn’t even sure that complete satiation was possible with him.
I missed Shane and Locke, too, even if falling asleep in Dominic’s arms was new and exciting. The only thing that could’ve made it better would be Shane wrapped around me too.
My brain tried to interject Roman into that scenario as I walked down Crescent Lane and found my way back to Main Street, but I swiftly kicked the idea away. No matter how delectable he was, he had no place in that fantasy.
The Phantom pulled up just as I arrived at the end of the last block, and I slid into the backseat silently, twisting my hands in my lap.
Headmistress Gilt awaited us at the gates of Cimmerian. “How was your mental break, Miss Darke? I received a positive report on how you handled your task.”
Dominic had checked me into a local bed & breakfast under my own name, but I’d never showed up, of course. I wondered if the owners would mention that when Gilt collected the bill. “It was extremely refreshing, Headmistress. Sometimes a little freedom is all that’s needed.”
She gave me a thin smile that veered disturbingly towards maternal, looked me up and down, and patted my shoulder. I resisted the urge to shudder, all too aware of the stolen bone in my pocket. “Go on in, then, dear. I expect your extracurricular training to progress a little more smoothly from this point on.”
I raised a hand in farewell and forced myself to walk sedately up the path to Cimmerian.
As luxurious as Dominic’s Waverly home was, coming back to this mansion was strangely relieving. I reached out and touched one of the entrance’s grand columns as I passed and felt something touch me back.
It wasn’t an eerie sensation, but a welcoming one.
Shane wasn’t in my bedroom. I dropped my satchel and kicked off my shoes, with zero regrets over getting no homework done over the weekend.
Something was laid across my windowsill on the outside. I approached it slowly, and relaxed when I realized what it was.
Someone had left a flawless rose, its lush pink petals edged with scarlet. I pushed the window up and retrieved it, taking a deep breath of its creamy scent.
Had Shane left it? I knew Locke wouldn’t venture near my room until he was sure he had control over himself.
A wolf trotted out of the burgeoning shadows, his tail waving in the air and scars gleaming through his fur. He
didn’t transform until he was hidden behind the poppies outside my window.
“I missed you,” I whispered, leaning through my window to kiss Shane, my tongue sliding between his lips and tangling with his.
He moaned and pushed against me, cupping my face in his hands. “God, I love it when Steele breaks you in for me.” His lips caressed my cheekbone, curved in a grin. “You get so… hungry.”
“Ugh, you’re twisted!” But then he was climbing in through my window, and I yanked the sash down and jerked the curtains shut. “Maybe you should join us. And thanks for the flower.”
“Flower?” Shane spun in place to stare at me and the rose in my hand. “I didn’t leave that.”
“Locke wouldn’t-” A sickening thought occurred to me as Shane took a deep breath and his face darkened.
“Let me back out. I’ll talk to the asshole. And don’t go near the rose garden, okay?”
I pushed up the window and watched him dive back out, becoming a wolf before he hit the ground and took off running to the forest.
The rose was a weight in my hand now that I knew who’d left it. I looked over the soft petals, each one flawless, and finally got a cup of water to keep it on my nightstand.
Even if Roman had been the one to leave it, it was too beautiful to throw away.
I showered and sank into bed, feeling languid and relaxed for the first time in a week, like nothing could touch me. I had Shane and Locke. Dominic was mine, and Bloom couldn’t change that.
But Shane didn’t return, and I found myself staring at the rose as night fell. The more I looked at it, the more irritated I became with Roman.
It was just a flower, and no matter how pretty it was, it wasn’t a real apology.
I finally ripped it out of the water, shoved the window open, and flung the rose outside.
Right into Shane’s face.
“Ouch,” he said, looking down at the mangled flower and rubbing his chin.
“I’m sorry!” I held out my hand and pulled him back in. “I was making a statement. I didn’t expect you to be standing there.”
“You make very violent statements sometimes, Lu.”
Shane stretched out next to me when I got into bed, cradling me like the big spoon. He pressed his lips to my shoulder, his chest reverberating with a low growl, and I knew that he was fighting his nature right now. The wolf in him wanted to mark me with a mating bite.
Which I was all in favor of, but Shane didn’t want to take that step yet. I tried not to let it bother me. I wasn’t convinced he was worried about the pain, but rather that once he marked me, it would be a permanent bond between us.
Maybe he wasn’t ready to take that step.
“Why can’t I go in the rose garden?” I asked, deflecting from my own thoughts. I didn’t want to spend the last hours of this glorious weekend worrying about anything.
“You missed out on a really fun time. Someone dug up one of Gilt’s precious rose bushes, and she ended up instituting a schoolwide Counseling session. Everyone spent hours out here running back and forth until they collapsed.”
“Did you go?” He seemed relaxed for someone who had just lived through two days of one of Gilt’s personal punishments.
Shane snorted. “Of course not. We stayed in the woods.”
“Who would antagonize Gilt like that?” I curled my fingers over his, pulling his palm against the beat of my heart, and he tensed behind me and cupped my breast. “Messing with the roses is a death wish.”
“Take a guess,” he said, sounding like he didn’t much care at all.
“Hmm. Roman.” His thumb rolled across my nipple, and I gasped when I said his brother’s name. Shane’s twilight eyes darkened, his hardness pressed against my leg.
I hated how much I liked his twin’s name in my mouth, breathless with want.
Shane’s teeth ran over my shoulder that night while he took me, leaving scratches behind, and I touched them before I fell asleep. He was getting closer to that edge.
I wanted him to fall over it with me.
Chapter 10
Lu
Dominic ended our training session with a rare smile.
He wasn’t even remotely close to winded, but I’d lasted most of the hour before he’d managed to get inside my guard. Not even his taut muscles, or the image of his naked body still fresh in my mind, sidetracked me from my mission to withstand his onslaught.
It was Roman who provided that unwelcome diversion, the massive wolf passing through the clearing with his ears pricked up.
Dominic had even stood by his promise to keep Bloom out of our session. If it wasn’t for Roman watching me end the last ten minutes by getting my ass thoroughly kicked, I might’ve wrapped my legs around Dominic’s waist when he ended up on top of me, his dagger at my throat and a smile on his lips.
“You let the wolf distract you, Miss Darke,” he whispered, his hazel eyes resting on my mouth. “Take in your environment and let it go if it doesn’t affect you.”
His cock was hard, throbbing, and pushed against my lower belly. I licked my lips, and my heart started pounding when his hips pushed forward. The replacement practice sword was thrust between us, stopping him from going any further.
“You’re beginning to qualify as a distraction.” I wrapped my hand in the front of his shirt, pulling him as close as possible.
“You’ve improved significantly in less than a week.” His lips were close enough that I felt them move against mine when he spoke. “The sword is what you were made for. Now we need to build your strength and basic stance.”
I wasn’t going to tell him it was just sheer determination to outfight Bloom that had prompted such rapid improvement, nor did I want Roman to know I’d taken his advice to heart.
Every time I went up against something or someone, I was going to fight like I fucking meant it. No prisoners. No mistakes.
While Dominic was diverted, his tongue running over my lip, I drew up my knees under his legs and used my leverage to throw him off me.
He landed on his back in the grass and I straddled him in an instant, the dull point of my sword pressed to his heart. “You let the girl distract you.”
Dominic’s hazel eyes smoldered, running over my heaving chest and the points of my nipples standing out under the tank top. I ground against him, his hardness pressed against my aching center, but he gripped my hips and held me still. “We have an audience, Miss Darke.”
The wolf was back.
Roman’s lips were drawn back over his teeth. I glared at him. “Do you like watching, you perv?”
He got up and turned his back on us, pacing out of the clearing again.
“Fucker,” I muttered, and tossed the practice sword aside. “I win this round.”
I bent over to kiss Dominic before I got up, completely uncaring about how obnoxious Roman was.
Until I sat up, breathing heavily, and the enormous wolf was sitting only a few feet away. I hadn’t even heard him approach.
“Ack!” Had he just been sitting there watching me brazenly kiss Dominic? “What do you want?”
He only sat at the edge of the clearing, watching me expectantly as I wiped the practice sword clean.
It was hard to ignore the weight of icy eyes running over me, or the fact that even sitting, his head was easily level with mine. They were twice the size of normal wolves. No wonder everyone was terrified of therianthropes; if Shane and Roman ever decided to go on a killing spree, they’d be tough to take down.
Holly’s sketchbook flashed into my mind. At some point, they would go on a spree. One of them would be horribly injured, and the other… the other would be fighting at Dominic Steele’s side in an unknown place.
Chills ran over me and I glanced at Dominic. He carefully tended his practice blades, treating them with the same reverence he gave to his own rowan daggers, the ones depicted in Holly’s picture. Roman might’ve been the wolf with him.
I felt like there was a gathering storm on the hori
zon, looming just out of sight. Before it went any further, I’d need to call them all together. Shane’s visions and Holly’s pictures showed the same thing: we were all in it together.
Dominic was done taking care of his weapons. He looked back at me, his hooded eyes flitting between me and the wolf, taking in the uncertainty of my stance and tight lips. “Do you wish to stay, Miss Darke?”
He was so close I felt his body heat in the chill morning air between us, his spicy, masculine scent of sandalwood and vetiver sending a jolt of heat into my lower stomach.
“I should probably see what he wants, sir,” I said, completely incapable of looking at him without remembering this weekend and all the things he had done to me.
It was so hard to keep up the walls after we’d twined together in every way it was possible for a human being to experience another.
Dominic nodded, his eyes resting on the wolf. I wondered if he was worried about Roman seeing us kiss.
Strangely enough, I found myself completely unworried about it. I had no reason to trust Roman- and plenty of reasons to distrust him- but something told me that he wouldn’t spill my secrets to anyone, and not just because of Shane.
He had plenty of his own secrets to hide. He understood.
“I’ll see you in class then, Miss Darke. Excellent form today.” He took my sword, gaze cutting right through me in a way that made me feel naked, and cast a warning glance at Roman.
“Bye, Professor.” I watched him go, unable to stop myself from admiring his broad shoulders and muscular legs, until a soft chuff brought me back to reality.
I turned on Roman, my fists clenched at my sides. “Back for more?”
“I won, so technically, you’d be the one back for more.” He’d shifted back into his human form while I mooned over my professor.
For once, Roman didn’t look self-possessed and haughty. Violet shadows stained the skin beneath his blue eyes, and scratches marred the dusky planes of his body.
I sucked in a breath. “What happened to you?”
His eyes flickered, a dark, empty look coming into them. “Nothing.”
“That doesn’t look like nothing.” His fingers were cut up, the tips worn raw like he’d been clawing at stones and rocky earth for hours.
