“Oh my God, I didn’t know that.” Lauren put a hand to her mouth. “What happened?”
Xairn shrugged. “I absorbed his power instead. Or rather, I started too. But my mother…” He had to clear his throat before continuing. “She…she begged me with her dying breath not to take his essence into myself. She said it would corrupt my soul. So I let it go instead.” He sighed. “When it did, my own power went with it. I can no longer read minds or compel anyone to do my bidding.”
Lauren looked at him hopefully. “So…you let that part of yourself go?”
“Only the power left,” Xairn said flatly. “My Scourge instincts and urges remain. And now that the small strand of human DNA which I got from you has been broken and overwhelmed by my own genetic material, I am worse than I was before.”
“I never thought you were so bad,” Lauren said softly.
“That is because you don’t know what is in my heart,” he said grimly.
“I want to, though. I want to know it all.” Scooping the wriggling puppy out of his arms, she set Little One down in the small patch of fenced-in grass that served the condo as a front yard. “Stay,” she told the puppy. Then she motioned to Xairn. “Come in?”
“I shouldn’t.” He tried to look anywhere but at her beautiful body. “I…I only came to say goodbye.”
Lauren took a deep breath and he had the feeling she was fighting back tears. Then she lifted her chin. “You can’t say goodbye without talking to me one last time and I can’t keep standing out here like this.” She indicated the sheer-red costume. “If the neighbors see me—”
“All right.” Reluctantly, Xairn went with her into the condo and shut the door behind them. He could hear Little One whining fretfully on the other side of the door but he knew the puppy would be safe in the tiny front yard. “Let’s talk.”
“Fine.” Lauren led the way into the kitchen and put a strange piece of fruit she’d been holding down on a plate. Then she turned to face him. “So you came just to say goodbye? You’re leaving because you don’t…don’t love me anymore?” Her voice trembled slightly but she kept her head high and looked him in the eyes as she spoke.
Xairn sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “You know that isn’t true. I still love you as much as I ever did—more. That is why I feel compelled to leave.”
“Because you’re afraid you’ll hurt me.”
“Because I know I’ll hurt you,” he corrected. He shifted, his secondary shaft throbbing behind his tight flight pants. “Even now seeing you as you are makes me long to throw you down and fuck you.”
“Do it then.” Boldly, she stepped forward, throwing out her chest. “I’m not afraid of a little pain, Xairn.”
At her motion, a flash of silver caught his gaze. “Not afraid of…Gods!” He grabbed her by the shoulders and studied her full breasts beneath the gauzy red top intently. “What have you done to yourself?”
“I had my nipples pierced.” She pulled the top down, baring her breasts completely so that he could see better. “It’s one of the Scourge marks of possession, isn’t it?”
Xairn tightened his grip on her shoulders and swallowed hard. Somehow he couldn’t tear his eyes from the erotic sight of her full, creamy brown breasts, naked and on display, with the lovely silver hoops piercing her tight nipples. “Yes,” he said at last, having difficulty forcing the words out. “It is.”
“I had them done soon after you left. They don’t hurt anymore. See?” Reaching up, she took his right hand and brought it down to cup one of her breasts. “Go on,” she murmured breathlessly. “Touch it. Touch me.”
Xairn couldn’t help himself. Gently he cupped the full undercurve of her breast and thumbed the nipple pierced with the slender silver hoop. Lauren moaned softly and pressed her breast more fully into his hand. The soft sound went straight to his cock, making him harder than ever.
“Do you know why we—why the Scourge—pierce our females’ nipples?” he asked, his voice low and harsh.
She shook her head, her breath coming short as he continued to stroke her tight little nub. “I thought it was just something you did. Is there a…a practical application?”
He nodded. “We do it so we can run a fine gold or sliver chain through the rings. Here and here.” Xairn cupped her other breast and tugged on both of the silver hoops gently, making her moan again. “Using the chain, we tether the female to the bed on her hands and knees. By tightening the chain and tugging on her nipples, we can force her to come further down. This raises her ass high in the air and gives the male better access to her pussy.”
“God.” Lauren whispered. “I…I didn’t know.”
“Now you do.” He looked up at her face at last. “You should not have done this just for me.”
“How could I not?” Lauren asked softly. “After all you’ve done for me.” Slowly she unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open to expose the brand that spelled her name. “You were marked for me,” she murmured. “You let them write my name on your heart. I thought…I hope it’s still there.”
Xairn knew she was talking about more than just the brand that marked his skin. “You know it is,” he said roughly, dropping his hands from her bare breasts. “But it changes nothing.”
“Nothing at all?” She traced her name on his chest and her touch was at once cool and inflammatory. Xairn felt like he was being burned all over again, as though her slender finger was tipped with fire.
“Stop it,” he said, shaking his head. “I still have to leave. I only hope…hope that you didn’t take it upon yourself to incur any of the other marks of possession.”
Lauren raised an eyebrow. “As a matter of fact, I did. Would you like to know which I chose to have done?”
Xairn let his eyes rove over her body, drinking in her beauty. “You’re not wearing a collar so you must have had yourself pierced below or branded with my name. I can’t tell which.”
“Then maybe you should examine me and find out.” Her voice was light and teasing but there was a deep, unspoken need running beneath the soft banter. Xairn heard it and it made his secondary shaft throb with need. But he repressed his hunger for her fiercely.
“I cannot,” he said, stepping away. “I…should not.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Can you really walk away from me that easily? Can you leave without knowing? You’ll wonder all your life if you don’t at least look just once.”
Xairn felt a force rising within him—a desire that threatened to burn his self-control to ashes, to demolish the cage he’d built around his true nature and let it out like a ravening beast seeking to devour. I must not let that happen! he told himself sternly. And yet…could it really hurt just to look? Lauren was right—he would wonder all his life what other mark she had taken if he didn’t find out.
“Fine,” he heard himself saying. “Go over to the bed and lay on your back with your calves hanging over the side and your arms over your head.”
Lauren went to the bed at once and arranged herself exactly as he had demanded. It gave him a strange thrill to see how willingly she obeyed but Xairn forced himself not to think about it.
“Good,” he said. Walking over, he knelt on the floor in front of her. “Now spread your legs for me.”
“All right.” She was shivering a little—with fear or excitement, he couldn’t tell which—but again she didn’t hesitate. Spreading her legs, she opened herself to him, mutely offering to give him whatever he wanted.
“Good.” Xairn heard the harsh tone of command in his voice but he couldn’t control it. He placed his hands on her knees. “Now hold still while I look at you. No matter what I say or do, you’re not to move. Do you understand?”
Her breath hissed out from between her teeth and she trembled under his touch but she spoke only one word. “Yes.”
“Yes, Master,” Xairn corrected her sternly.
“Yes, Master,” she repeated and as she spoke the word, he felt her shiver even more violently. At the same moment,
the warm, feminine scent of her arousal hit him. Could it be that this was turning her on? That submitting to him was actually making her aroused? Xairn didn’t know if he could let himself believe it. Instead of trying to decipher her thoughts, he concentrated on her body.
Gods, but she smelled so damn good. Looking at her soft pussy, barely visible behind the silky red material, he could see that her little cunt lips were swollen and wet. Clearly she was aching with desire. Just as he was.
But I can’t give in. I’ll just look at her, just see what other marking she’s taken, and then I’ll leave, he told himself sternly. Slowly he untied the silk cord at her waist and slid the gauzy red pants down her long, smooth legs. Lauren moaned softly as he bared her, but made no move to cover herself or close her legs. Her unquestioning obedience stirred something in Xairn—a primal instinct he’d tried to bury for years. Take her! demanded a voice in his head. She is your female—claim her! Bond her! Grimly, he ignored it and continued with the business at hand.
“Are you all right?” He watched her face as he stroked gently up and down her thighs.
She nodded. “Y-yes. I thought you were going to…going to examine me. To look for the other mark.”
“I am.” Xairn stopped stroking and leaned forward, parting her thighs even wider with his broad shoulders. She still made no move to resist him, even when he framed her cunt with his hands and placed his thumbs on her outer pussy lips. “I’m going to open you now, Lauren,” he told her, watching her face as he spoke. “Going to spread open your tight little pussy and see if you’re marked. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master,” she whispered. “Go ahead. I…I want you to.”
“I am not asking for your permission,” Xairn said harshly. “I’m telling you what I am going to do to you. You have no choice in the matter.”
She nodded. “I know. I…I don’t want a choice. I just want you.”
Her words touched that part inside him again—the dominant part begging to get out. Xairn pushed it aside and leaned over her spread thighs. Slowly, he opened her swollen cunt lips, revealing her slick, inner pussy, glossy with cunt honey. The sight made him catch his breath. Gods, she was beautiful! He had never seen anything so perfectly formed.
Forgetting that he was looking for a piercing, Xairn simply admired her. Last time he’d gone down on her, he had been rushed, almost desperate to taste her. This time he took his time, drinking in the sight of her lovely little cunt, breathing in her sweet, feminine aroma until he couldn’t stand it any more. Suddenly he had to taste her again—he couldn’t help it, the urge was too strong. He could leave, he told himself, leave and never see her again but not before he tasted her sweet, wet pussy just once more.
“I’m going to lick you now, Lauren,” he told her, his voice sounding hoarse with desire in his own ears. “Going to taste your sweet, creamy little cunt for as long as I want to and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Her breath seemed to catch in her throat. “Yes, Master,” she whispered. “I…I’ll try to hold still and let you.”
“You’d better,” he said sharply. “If you move so much as a muscle I’ll be forced to punish you.”
Lauren caught her full lip between her little white teeth, her eyes going wide. “Yes, Master,” she murmured at last. “Any…any punishment you wish to give me, I would be happy to receive.”
Xairn growled low in his throat. Her willing submission was doing something to him—affecting him in a way that was hard to understand. If she’d been defiant or refused to obey his orders, he might have been able to turn away from her. But the way she gave herself so completely—to either pleasure or pain, whichever he saw fit to inflict—was pushing him forward. Forcing him to act more and more on his true nature. His Scourge nature.
Unable to hold back any longer, he leaned down and flattened his tongue against her open pussy. Then, savoring her unique salty-sweet flavor, he dragged his tongue upward, lapping her cunt long and slow.
Lauren moaned and bucked up against him, her hips moving involuntarily with the pleasure he gave her. Xairn felt his cock surge hard against the fastening of his flight pants at her reaction. Lowering his head, he did it again. And again. Gods, but she tasted delicious—as salty and rich as the sea. And the way she moaned and thrust her hips in time to his lapping made him so hard he felt like he could fuck his way through a stone wall. She was disobeying his orders by moving at all, but he would deal with that later. For now he just wanted to keep going down on her, wanted to press his tongue deep in her cunt and taste her until she came all over his face.
“Xairn! Master!” Lauren moaned and he felt her soft, slender fingers twining themselves in his hair. The feel of her touching him, holding onto him as he lapped her cunt, was almost too much to bear. A greedy lust came over him and he hooked his arms under her thighs, splitting her even wider for his assault.
Lauren gasped and her fingers tightened in his hair as he lapped and sucked her, running his tongue over her swollen, sensitive little clit and then thrusting it deep in her channel. She was close—he could sense it—and he wanted desperately to push her over the edge. Releasing one of her thighs, he positioned two fingers at the entrance to her pussy and thrust in deep.
“Yes! Oh God, Xairn!” She stiffened, her spine arching, and Xairn tasted fresh wetness as her pussy spasmed around his invading fingers. Knowing that she was coming, that he had pushed her over the edge, nearly brought about an orgasm for him as well. He held onto his self-control tightly, forcing himself to ignore his own desire even as he continued to suck and lap her clit and fingerfuck her pussy.
Lauren, for her part, was still moaning his name, still pressing against him with all her might as the waves of pleasure carried her out to sea. At last, however, she started to relax and he knew the peak had passed. Slowly he withdrew his fingers and looked up at her.
“Wow.” She smiled, the expression lighting up her whole face. “That was…amazing.”
Xairn agreed but he couldn’t let her know that. “You moved,” he growled, deciding to test the limits of her submission. “Now I’ll have to punish you.”
Her eyes went wide and then, slowly, she nodded. “Yes…punish me, Master. I…I’ve been bad. Punish me.”
Xairn’s secondary shaft throbbed with her soft pleas. Gods, if she only knew what her submission did to him, how hard it made him, how much it made him want her! Careful, he warned himself. Don’t go too far.
But he feared he was already past the point of no return.
Lauren gasped as he sat on the bed beside her and pulled her to him. For a split second she hoped he wanted to cuddle for a minute, but the thought had barely crossed her mind when she found herself flipped over across his knee. The submissive posture she had been placed in seemed to set her on fire and she couldn’t help writhing against his lap. She could feel the hard lump of his shaft pressing against her pelvis and she had the satisfaction of knowing that she was stimulating his cock with every move she made.
“Hold still!” Xairn gave her a stinging slap on her bare bottom that sent a bolt of pleasure/pain straight to her pussy. God, who knew getting spanked could make her so hot?
It never would have before, she told herself, trying to hold still. Not before I exchanged DNA with him. It’s too bad mine wasn’t strong enough to hold him. But in a way she was glad. She liked this new Xairn. Liked the way he demanded her submission in that deep, harsh voice. When he’d ordered her to lie still while he licked her pussy, she’d been lightheaded with desire. And now he was fulfilling the other fantasy she kept having—he was going to spank her!
But not yet apparently. Xairn was quiet and she felt his large, warm hands moving over her skin, tracing a spot on her upper right buttock. Suddenly Lauren knew what he was seeing.
“So,” he murmured at last. “This is the other mark you took.”
“It’s a tattoo,” she confessed, her breath coming short as he continued to trace the elaborate capital X she’d
had inked into her skin. “I couldn’t find anyone who would brand me. They, uh, sort of thought I was crazy for even asking.”
“I’m glad you weren’t branded.” He stroked the spot gently. “I wouldn’t like to think of the pain you would endure from having my name burned into your flesh.”
“You endured it for me,” she pointed out.
“And I would do it again. But I don’t want you to do the same. This…this is enough.”
Lauren twisted her head to try and get a look at his face. “Then…you like it?”
“More than you know.” Xairn’s voice was a hoarse whisper. Then he straightened up. “But I still have to punish you. For moving when I told you not to, I’m going to give you ten slaps. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master,” Lauren murmured. God, it gave her such a thrill to call him that! Playing the submissive was really getting her off. Despite her recent orgasm, she could already feel her pussy getting hot and swollen again, ready for his touch.
But the next time he touched her, it wasn’t to stroke her pussy. Instead, she received another hard, stinging slap to the buttocks. “One,” Xairn said in a low voice as she moaned and writhed in his lap. “Hold still, Lauren,” he continued. “Don’t make me add to your punishment.”
Lauren stilled in his lap at once, though her natural impulse was to try and get free. “Yes, Master,” she whispered again.
“Very good.” He delivered another stinging slap. “Two,” he continued as she bit her lip and tried not to cry out.
He went on and on and as each blow fell, Lauren felt herself getting wetter and wetter. She could scarcely believe it, but it seemed that the sexual punishment she was receiving was making her as hot or hotter than the sexual pleasure he had given her earlier. From the feel of his rock-hard cock throbbing against her, it was turning Xairn on as well.
At last he reached ten, and Lauren started to slide off his lap. “Wait.” He held her in place with one arm wrapped around her waist. “Spread your legs,” he commanded.
Brides of the Kindred Volume One: Books 1-4 Page 165
