by Lucian Bane
"Like what?" She looked around and took my hand.
"How I made you feel."
She gave that snort. "It was an orgasm. What's not to like about it? Geeze."
"Because you have those all the time, I'm sure."
"No, but if I did, they'd feel just like that."
"This is what we're doing. I'm going to tie you to this wall here. Your arms will be bound up here." I pointed to the location. "And your knees will be bound here."
She made a painful sound. "Are you sure that's physically possible? I'm not a contortionist."
I moved her to the wall and tied her hands first. "Are you ready for another orgasm?"
"I… can't honestly say if that's possible. Never had more than one in a day. Or…week."
I'd change that if I had my way. I lifted her onto my waist and held her against the wall with my body while securing her knees in the holds. "I'll be able to lick your ass like this. I've been meaning to do that ever since we met."
"Ew! God nooo! No!"
"Oh God yes."
"Lucian, that's… you can get diseases from that."
"You just bathed, love."
I pulled back and she panicked. "No don't, don't. Stay. Stay right there."
I quirked my brow and pressed my abs into her body. "Why?"
She swallowed.
"Think quickly, sweetheart."
"Because…I don't want to hang from here. I feel stupid."
I slowly lowered my eyes over her body until I stared at where her sex pressed into me. "Nothing stupid about you. Like this. With me."
"I'm not with you, I'm hanging on a wall."
I leaned in and nibbled at her lips. "What are you saying, love. You'll have to spell it out."
"Take me down?"
"I'm going to. But you haven't screamed my name yet."
"I'm… I'm not a screamer."
I lowered to my knees despite her protests. I stared at her pretty pussy eye level with me now. I stroked my fingers along her thighs then softly over her beautiful spread folds.
"Please…"
"Please. That's a good start." I looked up the line of her body. "I'll make a deal with you."
Her head jerked down and I chose that moment to kiss her clit.
"I'll untie you if you ride me."
"Ride you? Like a pony ride?"
I slowly shook my head no with my lips buried in her folds, sliding my tongue over her clit as I did.
"Ride you? Intercourse?"
I closed my eyes, suddenly not liking the term. She might as well have said porn. Any other word would've worked probably. I lowered my mouth, distracted with the feel of her silk on my tongue and lips. I licked as far inside her entrance as I could, my nose pressing into her clit. Reminded me of when she'd sat on my face. Fucking amazing.
"Is this… is this what you do to all your… your sex slaves?"
The foul words stopped me and I pulled away and looked up at her. "Sex slaves?"
"Subs, whatever." Her voice was shallow, like she was well on her way to losing herself again. But…
"I don't have any subs, love."
This drew her surprised gaze. "No subs? A Dom with no subs?"
"Not anymore." The idea that she was jealous suddenly had my cock raging with need. "Do you want me to?"
She gave that snort. I was figuring out she did that when she was about to lie. "As if I care."
My heart raced. "I can go get one to play with us. Would you like that?"
"Ummm no. Not into threesomes."
I stood now, wanting to see her up close. "What are you into?"
"Nothing. Really. But if I were it wouldn't be this, I can assure you."
"This as in…"
"Me, you. Here."
Pain stabbed me. "Me. You. Here."
"Can you take me down? My legs are hurting."
"No. I can't. Why not me, you, here?"
She gasped an incredulous laugh. "You're a Dom. I'm a… normal human."
"Funny, you told me you were a Dom too."
"Not the way you are."
"Oh, you mean the way I make you feel good?"
"Yes, that and… the whole lifestyle. I'm like…"
"Frigid?"
She stared at me, her jaw going hard. "I'm not frigid. I just don't like to be tied to a wall like a fucking two legged spider."
"Okay, then what do you like to do? Tell me. I'll do that."
She pursed her lips at me. "Fine, untie me and I'll show you."
"By all means." I quickly helped her down, knowing good and well she didn't have a goddamn thing she liked to do.
I waited while she stretched her limbs back to normal and, then she ran. I stood there, in shock, watching her slam the bathroom door. That was the last thing I'd expected of her.
I walked to the door and knocked with my knuckle. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"Being a brat."
I shook my head with a dry laugh. "I don't recall agreeing to that."
"Well… you're the Dom. Isn't it your job to Dom your subs? You clearly failed."
"You might want to step away from the door."
"What?"
I slammed my shoulder into the light door and it opened with a splintering crack along the jamb. "I clearly have failed to Dom properly."
She eyed me with escape in her wild gaze.
"Don't even try it love."
"I'll hurt you," she warned.
"You'll hurt me? You do seem to be good at that. Go ahead sweetheart. Try."
She froze for a few seconds then made a dash right at me. I let her pass then lunged for her the second she did. We both fell to the floor and I fought for control. Fuck she was strong. She grunted as she repeatedly tried to grab various parts of my body. I didn't know jiu jitsu, but I had pretty good fighting instincts and common sense.
I roared when she got my arm in one of those holds.
"Bad Dom, baby."
"Ffffffuck." I banged my other hand on the floor in pain, trying to move into the hold. I finally broke out and again we grappled like tight rubber-bands. I finally managed a top mount. She smiled with her legs wrapped around me and I realized I'd only thought I'd managed something. Even though I was on top, she clearly had an advantage. I couldn't move. But did I fucking want to? My cock throbbed painfully. Her strength was such a turn on, especially when it rubbed exactly up against mine. I wanted to fuck her so bad in that second. Just like that.
Winded, I gazed into her eyes. "Why don't you trust me?" I hadn't meant for the question to sound so fucking desperate and broken.
She froze and stared at me. "Why should I?"
"I just…" I dropped my head to her chest, not wanting to fight against her. "I just want…" What did I fucking want? "I want you."
She let out a sound that said she misunderstood me.
I lifted my head. "Not sex, Tara. You."
She stared at me again. She was looking at me. Seeing. "Why? Why would you? You can get any girl you want. Why would you want me?"
God, her words confused me. "Why would I want anybody else? Don't you see who you are? How beautiful? You think I'm doing all of this for pleasure?"
"Money?" The word was tiny and full of pain, like she'd thought that's what it was all along.
"I didn't lie to you when I said I'd pay to help you win. I would have. Because you were so fucking sweet. And then when I got to know you, I didn't care about the game, I just wanted to be with you." I stroked her cheek with a finger. "But you're trapped inside yourself. And all I want is for you to be free and happy."
She turned her tear filled gaze to the side and pain speared me.
"Why do you always shut me out?"
"I don't shut you out," she gasped.
"Every time I set you free, you run further from me. What the fuck am I doing wrong? Tell me so I can fix it. So you see that I fucking love you."
She gasped and pulled me down and kissed me. Fuck. Yes. I just needed to beg? I kissed her back, my
hunger erupting like a volcano inside. "I need you."
"Oh God, I'm sorry," she cried in my mouth. "I didn't know." Her hands raked over my body, trails of flame reaching to my bones. "I was scared of you because I…"
I broke the kiss and looked at her, needing to know why she was scared.
Her face crimped and she let out a sob. "Because you made me feel again. Because I thought I'd never be able to. Because I never wanted to. You scared me so bad because of how much I wanted you and every time you looked at me, touched me, spoke to me, you took something from me that I knew I'd never get back. I was losing myself in you and I was scared."
I dove on her mouth, devouring those words, her breath that held them, her cries that fueled them.
"I fucking love you." I pressed my face against hers, my heart bursting with emotion.
"Make love to me," she whispered, her fingers digging into my ass.
I shuddered hard at those words, those impossible words. Love. Blindsided by love. That's what this beautiful fucking mess was in me.
"I should get…"
She shook her head, regret and sorrow grooved in her forehead, her mouth trembling. "I can't get pregnant."
Her fragile whisper undid me until I couldn't breathe from the fucking pain in my chest. I dropped my forehead to her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, love."
She suddenly clutched me tight to her and let out a huge sob that led to another.
I held her in a fierce embrace and rocked her. "Let it out love. I'm so sorry. I'm here. I'll help you."
The pain making its way out of her was fucking monstrous, her body was rigid with it while her vocal chords tore with the intensity. She screamed and wailed out the agony as I kept her locked in my arms, murmuring every syllable I could imagine right in her ear, willing it into her mind, her heart.
Eventually her cries slowed to pitiful low wails, a steady slow current of grief. But the fucking avalanche had passed. And she still held on to me.
She still held on to me.
Chapter Twelve
"Can I bathe you?" I whispered the words with kisses along Tara's shoulder, working my way up her neck, loving the delicate whimpers she gave. I would move mountains just to hear those.
"Yes."
I clenched my eyes tight at that one word. I'd almost given up on ever hearing it. With that one little syllable, so inconsequential, she had just given me the entire world. She'd given me her trust, the keys to her heart and soul to do with as I pleased. And all I wanted was to love her.
I took her hand and led her into the glass enclosed shower then set the water nice and hot. I turned her into the stream and stood before her.
She remained with her head lowered. "The whole world saw."
I tilted her face up at hearing the tiny words.
"Saw you what, love?"
Shame filled her eyes before she lowered them to the right. "Saw me fall apart."
I took her face in my hands and kissed her lips as softly as I could, so amazed with her. "What they saw was a hero baby. That's what you are. A survivor. A strong woman. Beautiful... Funny as hell…. Sexy…. Sweet…."
I was prepared to go on and on at seeing the slight smile taking over her lips. But my breath caught when she grabbed hold of my cock with both hands. "I'm an excellent marksman, too."
I gasped as she swirled her fingers over the head of my cock. "I see that." My breath shuddered out and I braced my palms on the shower walls, dizzy.
"It's your turn baby. Let me set you free."
I opened my eyes as she lowered to her knees. I shook my head and pulled her up, pushing her against the shower wall. "I need my cock deep inside you. I have to fuck you so very hard and fast. I'll fucking die if I don't, and I'm ready to beg."
She answered with breathless whimpers, igniting that inner hunger. I lifted her on my waist and growled when Tara's new passion greeted mine. We clashed like lightning bolts of desire and I trembled as I hurried to get inside her, fingers biting with desperate need. Finally I sheathed my cock in her fiery silk.
The rapture from that initial thrust exacted a roar from me, a shocked scream from her. Fuck, this was it. The one. The difference. The Alpha and the Omega. I pulled Tara against my body, needing her closer as I slid her along my cock, my hips managing slow erotic rolls.
Tara cried out in my ear. "Lucian! Oh God!"
She was the fucking tabernacle, the holy of holies. I moved inside her, placed her back against the shower wall, and held her arms at her sides ready to crucify her with our first time. I watched myself moving in and out her, marking my own mind, feeling everything fall away as Tara gave herself to me. The emotional rush that accompanied the soul branding was unlike anything I'd ever experienced, and again, I recognized the ultimate peak for what it was. It was the ultimate. The peak.
And fuck how my angel sang for me. She fucking sang the song of my soul. She made it rain fire down my spine, tingling, hard, licking into my balls and cock. My hips moved to its urgent demand.
The fire was beyond me, made me its beast. I threw my head back with a roar, my thrusts matching our heartbeats. The glorious orgasm gripped me in its relentless clutch and I jerked Tara against me, wanting her tight in my arms for my first plunge into that one way abyss of This.
"Oh God. Oh God." Tara's was right behind me. Still in orbit, I grabbed her waist, needing to see her sweet body meeting mine. I watched her in rapture as she fucking came undone, arcing with the shatter of walls inside her. "Lucian!"
Oh fuck, she'd screamed it. I pressed her face to mine and Tara let out a sob in my ear and I gasped at the sound, what it meant. Free. My baby was free. Fuck, yes. Chills ran over my body as the last shudder of orgasm rippled through me. We'd made the jump. Together. Lost ourselves in each other. God, I loved her.
I panted in ecstasy's aftermath, my soul on fire from the binding. I couldn't see it but I could feel it. That Formal Collar. That ultimate bondage. A tidal wave of holy fuck slammed me as I tasted what this ultimate collar really was. It wasn't the ultimate prison, as so many thought. Or the final game. It was the ultimate freedom. The ultimate game.
And we'd just christened the playing field.
****
Midafternoon. The buzzer sounded followed by an announcement directing the contestants to the dining room again. Tara and I had packed our belongings, ready to depart the mansion. No doubt we were disqualified, after I injured Duff. It didn't matter. I'd have done it all over again.
I paced near the door, waiting for Tara. Anticipation of seeing her in a formal gown had my hands shaking. What would she wear? Something opulent? Or simply elegant? My vote was for simple and elegant. Her natural beauty would overshadow anything else and make it look like a rag.
Some sense alerted me and I turned in time to catch her standing still, staring at me with an odd look in those hazel eyes. She stood there in a ruby red silk sheath that left her shoulders bare and clung to every curve.
I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, blindsided by her beauty. I stood there like a dumbstruck fool, just staring at her.
The buzzer woke me, calling us to the dining room. I offered her my hand and she moved forward to take it. Before we left the room, I paused and turned her to me. "I can't go out there without knowing."
"What?"
I slid my thumb along her cheek. "That no matter how this turns out… you're mine."
She swallowed with a small smile. "Maybe."
Excitement erupted in my stomach and groin at the sweet challenge in her warm gaze.
"If you let me." I lowered and kissed along her neck. "I have things planned."
Her breath hit my cheek as I worked along her jaw. "Tell me."
I shuddered. "I really liked the way you screamed my name."
A gasp escaped her and I stroked my fingers along the pulse in her neck.
"I need that from you, baby. Every day. Your pleasure. I have so many toys I want to use on you so many roles to play. Will you let me?"
She answered with a whimpered yes that lit me on fire.
I made her look at me. "As far as I'm concerned, we both won. I'll help you find a way to get your grandmother home. Okay?"
She nodded and fanned her eyes when they teared up.
I kissed her forehead and held my arm out to her. She smiled with a blush and I led her to the dining room, hand in hand, lost in some kind of haze that isolated us from the rest of the world.
At the door of the dining room, a maître de in a black tux showed us to our seats. This time each couple had a small, intimate table. We took our seats and as soon as all the couples were in place, the waiters approached laden with plates.
The moment everyone was served, the wait-staff disappeared, leaving us to sit and wait for things to get underway. To my surprise, Duff came in wearing a pirate style eye-patch, led carefully by the woman he'd so abused the day before.
The blonde announcer came in as we ate, again dressed to the hilt in her executive mistress attire. The only thing that really hinted at her lifestyle, was the narrow straps of studded leather that laced Roman-style up her shapely calves. "We'd like to encourage you to mix and interact following your meal. But I'm sure you're very anxious to know who won, and why, so we'll get that part out of the way. We also have some further surprises for you."
She strolled around through the tables, her wireless microphone occasionally squealing with feedback. "First, we must thank Gladiator, Inc. for sponsoring this competition. Dom World dot com and Submit dot com joined together to provide this lavish setting for us." A murmur of surprise went through the contestants.
"And without further ado… the moment you've all been waiting for…" The screen behind her illuminated, displaying Gladiator, Inc.'s corporate logo again. She pressed a button on the control device in her hand and the screen changed. "Contestants were judged on various things. As you knew, every item on the assignments list came with point values, as did the various toys you could implement in those assignments. What you didn't know you were being judged for was your ability to dominate in every aspect of the lifestyle." She turned to the contestants. "Many people confuse a Dom personality with a Dom's position of authority. The two are not exactly the same or interchangeable. A true Dom dominates. Plain and simple. And by dominate, we mean does what it takes to get a job done. Even if that means submit."
