Temper Dread: Book Two of the TEMPER Saga

by Lila Mina

  10 Renewing Pledges

  Lana took a deep breath to repress her spike of arousal, mingled with annoyance at what he implied. “My apologies, we talked about so many things yesterday, I’m not sure of what you’re referring to,” she replied smartly. “Could you please clarify?”

  A one-knuckle punch to her chest made her stumble and hit his large desk, before he stepped between her legs.

  “Don’t play the innocent,” he hissed, leaning forward. “I am beginning to think this is defiance. But let’s assume for a second you are completely oblivious to the risks. That you are indeed blind to what he can do to you.” She ended up bent backward, gripping the desk. “I did not want to be blunt in front of Yuki, but she is... busy with your friend right now so we have time for this lesson.”

  Lana’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Oh. They played us so well. Gabriella, good luck my dear. Enjoy yourself.

  “Nakazawa sama is a menace. I know how he thinks and works. Out of gleeful revenge, he will attempt to corner you, to have you open your legs for him. And if he cannot, he will infuriate you and make you see red. But you will remain in control of yourself and place a lock on this… impossible temper of yours in his presence. Not a single word louder than the other, not one snarky remark. Do not give him any excuse to lash back, any reason to retaliate. This is not an advice, but an order.”

  His hand slid on the warm and sweaty inside of her thigh up to her panties. “Bark at him, lecture him: in my eyes, it will be similar to you dropping on your knees to service him.”

  Lana gasped and bared her teeth, fury sweeping arousal aside even though the brush of his fingers on the thin cotton of her underwear turned it wet. She pushed back on his chest, frustrated at being unable to grip his shirt for once, but he didn’t budge.

  “Do you have such poor confidence in me? And how can you assimilate putting the man back in place with doing… it? This is insulting! If he even tries to land a finger on me, I will break it, along with anything else on the way!”

  Honda didn’t reply. A black obi appeared from behind his breastplate: his aikido belt, with his name stitched in golden characters on it. He grabbed her wrists, put them behind her back and deftly tied them together. Lana gaped at him, disoriented and overwhelmed by warring emotions as the symbolism couldn’t be stronger.

  “If he lays one single finger on you, Lana san, with or without your consent, it will mean open war,” Honda growled before placing her on his desk, her skirt trussed on her hips and her legs stretched. “And this is also why I cannot fully support what you are doing. But even if you manage to keep him at bay, if you let him play you and stroke your inner fire up to a point where you cannot control yourself anymore in his presence, then yes! It will be as if you had crawled naked into his bed to do his bidding. Maybe I did not make myself clear the first time: it is only with me you should express your need to hit and lash out. Nobody else and certainly never, ever him!”

  He pushed her straps until her bare breasts were exposed, not caring for her weak cries of protestation at his careless treatment of her favorite dress. On weekends, she didn’t bother with bras when she was home. She was now bound and mostly naked, trapped under his armored body.

  “So, let’s test how good you have become at self-control under harsh circumstances, little mudansha. You will not come until I allow you to, understood?”

  Lana shut her eyes and nodded, preparing herself for the onslaught he was going to put her through. “Yes, goshujin sama,” her breathy voice replied.

  To her shock, a glove-covered finger pressed at her entrance. His other, naked hand pinched her left nipple hard, and his tongue leisurely licked away perspiration running between her swollen breasts. She shuddered and whimpered; by reflex, she tugged at her binds, but it was of course hopeless. Yet, she yearned to grab him, dig her nails into him, carve red paths in his skin...

  His thumb thrusted inside her, then moved to her clit and rubbed it roughly. Lana threw her head back and stifled a groan. Her pleasure pooled between her legs and she was already climbing the steps toward her climax.

  “Oh…” she bit again her lip, refusing to beg for mercy.

  “Not yet! Don’t be in such a rush.” He plunged his thick and leather-clad thumb back deep inside her.

  Eyes wide open, Lana bucked; pulling on her abs, she straightened up to stare at him defiantly. She wasn’t allowed to come, but he had told her nothing about retaliation. Her teeth found one small spot of uncovered skin on his neck, and she bit him hard, her hips grinding against his hand to increase penetration.

  “Ah… that’s… that’s good… but… hm… you can do… ah even better…” Lana croaked, ever the tease, before licking his sweaty and burning skin with passion.

  Honda grabbed her neck and pulled her off him. Locking eyes, he smeared her lips with her own juices before pushing his glove-covered thumb inside her mouth a little too deep, a little too hard for comfort. She blinked away tears and struggled to control her gag reflex.

  “You never know when it is time to be quiet and take it, do you?” he purred before licking her distended jaw up to her ear. “Always trying to step up and take over… So refreshing and annoying at the same time,” he added before freeing her mouth, pushing her back down and swiftly aiming at her other hole.

  “Sh…. gah!” Lana grunted at the rough invasion. He wasn’t showing much patience as he drilled his point wherever he thought it best. “Oh please…”

  “No, not yet.” One hand on the side of her head, he hovered above her. “Look at me now.” She complied with great difficulty. Her body quivered under the assault of his thumb that kept stretching her more and more. “Why are you so sure you will resist him, why are you so confident anything he offers or does will not make you go willingly to him?” Something darker and threatening crossed his face.

  A short burst of understanding pierced through the haze of mounting pleasure shrouding her mind. Ah. Of course.

  She licked her lips and struggled to find her words.

  “I am sure… oh…” Her eyes rolled back as he turned his hand; his glove brushed her clit. “Because… I am… devoted to you… and there is nothing he can do or promise… that… will make me… break my… pledge,” she finished with a furious whisper.

  Honda bit harshly her exposed nape, ripping a coarse shout from her throat. “Let it go now,” he grunted.

  Her reply was a breathless, keening scream. Her body started to shake from head to toes on its own. By far, this was not the most intense physical bout they had ever shared. However, her mind was overcome not only by his power game but also his raw need to be reassured of her loyalty just when their relationship was taking a radical turn.

  “I… I…” she gasped, eyes wide, as her body wouldn’t stop convulsing. What…? I… can’t… too much...

  “All of it, all of you,” he urged, holding her tight against him.

  With a roar that turned into a soul-wrenching sob, Lana lost all control over herself, and to her acute embarrassment, including her bladder.

  We’re not into this!

  Her hands tied, she pressed her burning face against his plated shoulder. “Oh… sorry… I’m so sorry…” she blurted, out of breath.

  Silent, Honda freed her wrists and softly massaged them. Still holding her, he grabbed his towel and cleaned her up as well as his desk.

  “Did you also forget this lesson? There is no room for shame between us. You relinquished control over your body, as I told you to, and such things happen.”

  Lana nodded, speechless. After all these months, his strange mix of eager embrace of her innermost drives and harsh demands on so many other personal aspects still puzzled her.

  “Stand up now.” He pulled her up and began to put back order in her clothes.

  When her feet touched the ground, however, a wave of dizziness made her legs wobble. “Wow,” she muttered, “damn these blood pressure drops.”

  Honda frowned and held her upright. “I
s this normal?”

  “Yes, at least according to what Dr. Internet, MD, told me this morning. I’m among the lucky moms-to-be that pregnancy doesn’t curse with high blood pressure, quite the opposite. But it means… hm… wait a second…” Nausea hit her, and bile rose in her throat.

  No, no no no. Not here!

  She took a deep breath. “I need something salty to eat… anything... now!” she urged him, clenching her teeth while looking frantically for the waste basket.

  His eyes widened; he took her by the arm, leading her back into the hall. “Yes, right away, but don’t stay here, it is way too hot, and you are dehydrated. I am entirely to blame, I am sorry.” In other circumstances, his contrite voice would have been cute.

  Lana shrugged. “We’ll have to adjust… I’m the one who should be thinking about this kind of things first... I need to sit…” He let her go and she slid against the wall of the cool hall to rest her brow on her knees.

  “Crackers and water please…” she groaned, eyes squeezed shut, and she heard him scramble to fetch everything. This was much worse than previous episodes; obviously, climaxing hard in a hot and stuffy room in the hottest part of summer didn’t help.

  “Cara mia! Oh, what’s wrong with you!” Gabriella’s frightened voice pierced through her nauseous fog. Her friend was at her side in a blink.

  “Ah, don’t worry, I’m fine…” Lana replied behind clenched teeth, eyes still shut. Shoot, that’s not how I wanted to tell her...

  “No, you’re not! Stand up, you can’t stay here!”

  “Don’t worry, Gabriella san. She will recover. Give her some room and time,” Honda interrupted them. “Here you go,” he added, crouching on her other side.

  With a grateful grunt, Lana grabbed the pack of salty crackers and gulped down four at once, before taking long sips of deliciously fresh water. She didn’t miss her friend’s gasp when she caught sight of the new bite mark on her neck, nor the accusatory glare she cast at Honda.

  “Sensei, what’s going on? What did you do?” her cold voice threatened. Honda’s eyebrow shot up at her tone, but he kept silent, merely returning her stare.

  “Relax. It was too hot back there, I didn’t drink enough and it… complicated things,” Lana placated her friend, before switching to Italian. “Darling, sit here, you’re in for a shock.” She seized Gabriella’s hand to catch her full attention, a part of her registering her flushed cheeks and glowing look. Yuki sama did it again.

  “I know you won’t believe it, but I swear it’s true and confirmed. I’m pregnant,” she whispered; her own words baffled her. It was so hard to confront this new reality.

  Gabriella blanched, then her face turned crimson. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Her hand flew to her lips, eyes moist. Lana squeezed her fingers even harder, fighting to keep her own composure.

  “Lana…” the brunette croaked. “It’s impossible. I was there when they told you… when they explained what they had to remove… the extent of your wounds...” She shook her head forcefully.

  Lana took her in her arms and embraced her tightly, forgetting for a while her queasy stomach. “I know, and I’m scared shitless. My doctor is worried, we’ll do many tests… and I still don’t understand how this happened. For now, it’s a fact. But cara mia, please, I haven’t told them the… whole story. I just can’t. Not yet.”

  “Of course…” Gabriella’s trembling voice replied. Aware of their audience, she inhaled deeply and let go of Lana; her palms pressed against her eyes, she tried to recover her composure. “Dio mio, what a day…” she said with a low chuckle.

  A snort escaped Lana, and the back of her head hit softly the wall. “What a weekend,” she muttered. “You haven’t even heard the crusty details yet, but the rest can wait.”

  Gabriella faced Honda who watched them interact without hiding his curiosity. With a sheepish look, she offered him a bow.

  “My apologies Sensei, I… couldn’t imagine this was the actual reason of her discomfort.”

  Honda’s lips turned upward. “Given that I have a direct role in Lana san’s current predicament, I will not hold it against you to blame me.”

  “Here you are! Oh, Lana san, are you all right? Is the baby giving you trouble?” Yuki exclaimed, joining their group. She kneeled in front of Lana who had resumed snacking on her crackers.

  “Yuki san, you are… fine with the situation?” Gabriella blurted out before embarrassment turned her into a red beet. She winced and looked away. “Ah, it’s not my place to…”

  With a smile, Yuki brushed the brunette’s hair away from her brow. It was a simple gesture that communicated a new level of intimacy.

  “Yes, I’m perfectly fine with this wonderful news. Don’t worry for your dear friend. It’s… a shock and raises difficult questions and challenges, but it brings much joy into this house.”

  “You… you are simply amazing,” Gabriella whispered, eyes wide.

  “Yes, she is,” Honda and Lana replied as one.

  Lana’s heart sparkled with bubbles of happiness at Yuki’s burst of crystal clear laughter. The content looks on Honda’s and Gabriella’s faces were priceless. She basked in the wonder of such a perfect moment.

  11 Piercing Through the Veil

  Exiting Dr. Stein’s clinic, Honda and Lana walked back to their car. For the first time since she had found out about her pregnancy, joyful expectation made Lana’s heart flutter. Nothing too intense though. The road ahead was risky and bumpy.

  Still, there it was. Something, someone growing inside her. Defying all odds. Life. A new beginning. Emotions rushed to her head; she stared outside her window to hide her crumbling composure.

  Honda took off and quickly, they got stuck in the evening commuter traffic. It would take them longer than usual to get home, but Lana was in no rush; being in a car at night was relaxing and soothing, especially when she wasn’t the one driving. Both of them got lost in thought as they drove through the bustling and animated streets of Tokyo at dusk.

  After a while, she became aware of unexpected tension pouring from her companion’s seat. Her window’s reflection showed his hands gripping the wheel so hard his knuckles were white; his jaw was locked in an all-too-familiar way.

  What now?

  Nothing highly problematic had popped up during the appointment. Her doctor had been utterly professional with his handling of their particular relationship, and could answer their questions, even the most intimate ones. He had even encouraged a soft form of aikido to help her body stay in shape. Maybe it was the situation with Nakazawa. It seemed to eat him from inside.

  “Well… I guess we can really count ourselves blessed,” Lana said softly, still gazing outside her window. “Doctor Stein has never seen something like this. The odds were so incredibly low.”

  “‘Blessed’? I am not sure it’s the right word,” Honda mumbled. Lana’s eyes widened, and she turned to confront him. “Sorry, what?” Is he having second thoughts? What the...?

  Honda hissed at her outburst but kept staring at the road ahead. “I mean exactly that. From what I learned today, this should never have been possible. I fear something else is at work here, and this is not good news.”

  “What on Earth could be at play here? And how could this not be good news? I’m sorry, you’re not making any sense!”

  Her companion sighed. Their car came to a halt at another red light. “I fear nothing on Earth is at play here; this is precisely the problem.” He raised his hand to cut her short before she came up with a reply. “Lana san…” His voice was low and rough. “There are things I should have told you regarding why I… chose you, why I had to choose… someone. But I sincerely thought that beyond the nature of our… relationship and the framework we have agreed upon together, you would never be really affected. I may have been wrong.”

  Her mind went blank. He had hidden things from her. Things now blowing up in his face and that could well shatter her new, fragile world.

  �
��Oh. That’s rich,” she growled, anger spiking. “You lecture me on trust, respect and mutual obligations, but you hide something so vital it can affect my… consent about being with you? What is it? And how can this have anything to do with me getting miraculously pregnant?”

  Honda’s fist tightened on his lap. He was struggling hard not to lash back at her tone, but the time for deferential respect and obedience was gone, and she couldn’t care less about proper form.

  “What we share, how we do it is something I need and want, regardless of the cause. It is something deeply rooted in my nature and temperament, and there is nothing… odd or special about it. But the intensity of my need? The… difficulty I have sometimes at maintaining self-control and the endless drive to push it always further? Why Yuki alone cannot help me anymore? It is something else… something thrown at me as… as a punishment. A—” he stopped, his face twisting in pain; he passed a hand over his eyes. “A curse.”

  “A… curse?” Lana articulated slowly. “By this you mean, a psychological issue you were born with? A kind of… hormonal imbalance, or a mental problem, or—”

  “No!” Honda shouted, slamming the wheel with both hands, before biting his knuckles to the blood and staring outside. The car behind them honked impatiently; the light had turned green. “An actual, otherworldly curse cast by a real and evil yokai twenty years ago, to punish me… and my family.”

  As if bitten by a snake, Lana recoiled so fast the back of her head hit the window. “Okay, okay, stop! I need to get out of this car! Pull over, do it now!”

  Honda didn’t even try to argue or comment. They were passing by a CVS and were in the parking lot immediately. The car had not even come to a full stop before Lana was out of the door.

  Hyperventilating, she walked away from the car on wobbling legs, her heart drumming widely in her ears. She was so nauseous she almost puked on the spot, and her head throbbed. A glance back to the car told her Honda had come out on her side but wisely kept his distance. He looked exhausted, and for the first time, old.