The Hand of Vengeance

by Renee Rose

  “I didn’t want to lose you,” he whispered back. “I couldn’t stand to lose another—” He stopped. It was too much to explain about Tarin, and he didn’t want to bring her into this, anyway.

  “I heard about your sister.” Her soft voice fell like a blanket over his shoulders.

  Tears threatened again. Universal God, he hadn’t cried once in the last thirty years. Not even over Tarin. What was it about this day that had cracked him open and let all his darkness pour out?

  He leaned his forehead against hers. “I was afraid—” He stopped again. When had he ever uttered those three words in his life? Never. But here he was confessing the ultimate weakness.

  “You saved me,” she said firmly, as if knowing that the demons were playing a terrible “what if” game with his head at the moment. “And I’m sorry I put you in that position.”

  He cradled her head in both his hands. “Forgive me.” He’d been biting back an apology since the moment he dropped the sweet reed. One didn’t ask forgiveness for doling out well-deserved discipline. But he needed things to be right with her more than he needed to be right.

  “For caring about me? I can’t resent that, can I?”

  He kissed her lightly on the forehead then moved his thumb to kiss her cheekbone on the right, then the left. He brought a reverence to the act, as if by making it holy, he might purify them both.

  “But if you mean for that horrible caning, then not yet.”

  A smile tugged at his lips, because, despite her words, he felt her forgiveness. “I will allow you to sulk, just this once.”

  She laid her cheek on his shoulder, which made his heart constrict. “So damn imperious. What would happen if you didn’t allow it?”

  He kissed her nose. “Don’t test me, little girl.” He turned and laid her face down on the bed, her welted bottom on display. From her discarded tunic pocket, he pulled out a little tin of local salve the rebel women had been supplying her with. He’d seen her pull it out and use it for all sorts of abrasions. The little metal tub had a screw on top and a sticker with a hand-written label. He scooped a dollop of the yellow-green balm with his index finger and slathered it on one of her welts with a feather touch.

  Lara flinched then relaxed, as if by will. She rested her cheek on her hands, her face turned toward him watching. “Everyone in my clinic knows I got a spanking.”

  He smiled. Her sulking actually turned him on. It conveyed her acceptance of his authority. It had meant a lot to him that she’d offered herself up for punishment. He wouldn’t have forced her. If she’d folded her arms and refused to strip and bend over, he would have given her a piece of his mind, but he wouldn’t have punished her without her consent. Not this time. She was no longer his captive, nor under any obligation to him.

  He shrugged. “Corporal punishment is not unusual on Jesel.” He continued his application of the salve.

  “I’m their boss.”

  “And I’m the man who cares about what happens to you.”

  “So that gives you the right?”

  “On Jesel, it does. But, regardless, I’ve never been one to wait for someone to give me rights.” If he had, he’d still be a slave working in a diamond mine for Treedle. He buttered the lowest welt and filled his hand with the back of her thigh, which God had made the perfect width for exactly that purpose.

  “Are you going to fuck me?”

  His brows shot to his hairline. Was that an invitation? Or trepidation speaking? She didn’t look scared, though. Her cheeks had flushed and she was licking her lips. He ran a hand ever so lightly over her welted ass. “I’m not sure you’d like it much.”

  She bit her lip, making him want to claim her mouth. Perhaps she needed release. He slid two fingers between her legs. “Do you need some help?”

  She parted her legs and lifted her ass for him, stealing his breath. “I want you to fuck me.”

  ~~*~~

  Blade swept her hair from her shoulder and kissed it. She never would have imagined a man like him, constructed only of flint and steel, could be capable of such tenderness. As much as it had hurt, she would take a thousand canings to feel the closeness they shared at this moment. He had admitted he cared for her, had claimed her as his own through the harshness of his punishment as thoroughly as he’d claimed her that first day they’d had sex.

  Now, with her ass still burning on the surface and throbbing on a deeper level, she felt thoroughly owned by him. She’d never felt so connected to another being in her life. Her attention had been spent lost in science and medicine. She’d kept herself impossibly busy so she never had to connect on more than a superficial level with other beings. And at this moment she wanted—no, she needed—to connect with Blade in the most physical of ways. She didn’t care if it hurt her swollen ass. In fact, that might even heighten the experience for her. Because she loved this man’s dominance.

  Blade stood and pulled his body-hugging combat shirt over his head. He kicked off his boots and shucked his trousers. He wore no underclothing. His cock jutted proudly, as ready for her as her weeping pussy was for him.

  “On your knees, facing me.”

  His command sent a heady thrill through her core. She pushed back to her knees then lifted her torso and shifted to face him where he stood.

  He reached out and clasped her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Rolling it, he urged it into a stiff peak. He tugged it forward, causing her to gasp. He immediately released it, cupping the entire breast and squeezing as his other hand found its way between her legs.

  “Spread your knees wider.”

  She eased them farther apart.

  “Who do you belong to?” He ran one finger along her dewy folds.

  She licked her lips. “You. Only you.”

  His eyelids drooped and one corner of his mouth lifted. He stroked a slow circle around her clit.

  Her inner thighs trembled. She ached for more. “Please, Blade.”

  He hooked his arm around her waist to brace her and slid two fingers inside her.

  She grasped his shoulders and dug her fingernails into his flesh, her head falling back. “Yes...please.”

  He pumped his fingers in and out roughly. “You want more of that?”

  “You...I want you. Please?”

  She was sloppy wet, her juices leaking down her thighs and making smacking sounds as he finger-fucked her.

  He pulled his fingers out and slapped her pussy. “Show me.” He slid onto the bed on his back.

  Ass throbbing, pussy pulsing, she crawled over him and grasped his huge cock in her fist. A flick of her tongue had it bobbing. A slow trail around the rim brought his groan. Enjoying the shift in power, she opened her lips wide and took him into the pocket of her cheek, sucking hard.

  He grasped her head, burying his fingers in her hair.

  She hummed as she took him in and out, slid her fist along the root of his cock in concert with her mouth.

  “Enough, woman.” Blade’s voice came low and guttural. “Climb on me.”

  She smiled and crawled over him, impaling herself on his straining dick. She understood he’d chosen the position for her comfort, and she loved him for it.

  He wrapped his big hands around her waist and pulled her forward and back.

  She ground her clit down on him, arched her back and rode. Despite the fact that she was on top, he did all the work, propelling her with a speed and force she didn’t dare interrupt.

  She watched his face contort, and he yanked her down hard and held her. His hips lifted both of them into the air, and his head dropped back. “Bad girls don’t get to come,” he said without any breath leaving his chest.

  His hot cum filled her as her mind processed his words. Her cunt pulsed around his cock, or maybe his cock was pulsing inside her, but either way, she experienced the sensations as all possibility of reaching orgasm trickled away.

  She almost wanted to cry. Or to crawl away, thoroughly humbled. She felt about two inches high.
/>   Blade opened his arms. “Come here.”

  Despite her disappointment, she didn’t even think about resisting the order. She needed his reassurance more than anything. Matching her torso to his, she laid herself over him like a blanket and let him hold her.

  He stroked her hair and her back, and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t sulk, angel. If you’re beside me in this bed tonight, I won’t make it to morning without taking you again.”

  She wasn’t sulking. She just felt thoroughly chastised. More so than after her spanking—because, of course, then, she’d been angry. It was truly an effective punishment.

  Blade continued to soothe her, stroking and kissing as his spent cock slipped out. He ran both hands down the length of her back, lightly cupping her hot, swollen buttocks.

  She wondered if this, too, was a Jeselian punishment. Did all Jeselian men humble their naughty women this way, withholding pleasure while they took their own? The funny part was that she didn’t even consider trying to finish herself off. She was certain Blade would put a stop to it anyway.

  She laid her cheek against his chest and listened to the sound of his steady heartbeat, letting it lull her into slumber.

  She dreamed Blade’s hands were all over her, hot and possessive. In every sequence, he was handling her—picking her up to place her in a tree, folding her over a surgery bed to spank her in front of her patients, pushing her legs back to lick into her feminine folds. She woke on her side facing away from him, his cock bobbing at her ass as one hand squeezed her breast. He tugged at her nipple, rolling it between his fingertips. The room was dark. Her pussy was swollen and wet. She reached back to guide him in.

  “If you were my wife,” he murmured in her ear, “I’d never let you sleep. I’d force you to sleep naked beside me so I could have my way with you any time I liked.”

  Her pussy contracted around his length at the idea of being his wife, a Jeselian wife owned and dominated by her man. Backwards, but definitely arousing.

  He rolled her to her belly and thrust deep inside her, the pressure from his loins confirming her buttocks still ached from his punishment. It was a good kind of pain, though—a dulled reminder of his earlier dominance. Her pussy released a fresh issuance of lubricant, welcoming him.

  He laced his fingers over hers and nuzzled her neck, his breath hot as he rocked inside her. “If you were my wife, I’d insist you remove your panties any time we’re alone. I’d make you spread your legs and show me your sweet little pussy while you ate or studied or read.”

  She moaned.

  He reached a hand underneath her and found her swollen clit. He diddled it.

  She arched.

  “If you forgot, I’d punish your little pussy. I’d spank it until you were sore and swollen and then I’d pound into you and make you scream.”

  She bit the bed covering, ready to scream already.

  He continued to rub her clit as he thrust with deep, steady strokes. “Do you think I should let you come this time, Lara?”

  All she could do was whimper. She was at his mercy. She didn’t wish to declare whether she deserved his reward or not, didn’t wish to consider it. She would accept whatever he had to give her.

  “Hmm?”

  “Blade,” she gasped.

  “You may come, Lara.”

  Her muscles contracted around his cock, squeezing it as her buns tightened and she arched beneath him.

  He shoved in deep and stayed, his hot essence shooting into her.

  ~~*~~

  In the morning, Blade pulled Lara over his lap to inspect her welted bottom. She looked over her shoulder at him, her cheeks coloring. Her body was so relaxed—none of the usual stiffness or stress was present in her limbs or face. The dark circles were gone from under her eyes.

  He ran his palm over her little bottom. Despite the ointment he’d applied, she still bore some marks. He didn’t know if the salve would do any good hours later, but he reapplied it, enjoying playing with her perfect ass. He rubbed it all over, letting his fingers trail down her crack. She jerked but didn’t tighten, still offering herself up to his hand. He circled her tight bottom hole. The little rosette contracted.

  “When you’ve been naughty and had your little bottom punished with a cane, you’ll take my cock in your ass.”

  She moaned, her eyes glassy. He knew by the way she lifted and lowered her hips, the idea excited her.

  “Reach back and pull your cheeks apart for me, Lara.”

  She hesitated only a breath before she did as he instructed, parting her twin moons to expose the dusky pink pucker.

  “Good girl.”

  He pushed one finger inside her, massaging around the stretched rim of muscles.

  She held perfectly still, arching her back, lifting her buttocks to him.

  He moved in and out, added a second finger.

  “This is what happens to naughty girls who disobey their masters. Right, Lara?”

  “Yes, sir.” Her voice sounded breathy, lust echoing in the two syllables.

  He removed his fingers. “Get on your knees and forearms.” He helped her by lifting her hips, steadying her as she assumed the position. Gripping her thighs, he pulled them apart and lowered his head to lick into her folds. Her delicious nectar flowed as he flicked his tongue over her clit. He pulled back and slapped her pussy, her wetness making a sticky sound when his fingers contacted it.

  “Does your little pussy need a spanking?”

  “I-I don’t know.”

  He chuckled at the desire-roughened words, happy she was beginning to admit she liked spanking. He spanked her glistening pussy lightly, a dozen times. “Reach back and touch yourself, Lara.”

  “What?”

  “Touch your pussy. Show me how you pleasure yourself.”

  She threaded her arm down between her legs and cupped her mons, undulating her fingers over it.

  “That’s it.”

  He kneeled behind her and rubbed some of the salve on the head of his cock. Parting her cheeks, he pushed at her back entrance. It took all his self-control to go slowly, to enter her gently, because his passion for her roared in his ears.

  She accepted him, gasping and mewling, her fingers working frantically on her cunt.

  He gripped her hips and fucked her ass, so tight and warm. “You feel so...fucking...good,” he growled.

  “Please, Blade, please, please, please.”

  “I like it when you beg. But you’ll wait until I’m ready to come.” The truth was he was on the edge, holding back to prolong both their pleasure. He reached around the front of her hips and helped her fingers, rubbing her swollen clit. His cock swelled, and a roar rose in his throat. Shoving in deep, he came, jerking against her soft ass.

  “Now, Lara.” With the cone of his fingers, he penetrated her pussy, fucking her hard and fast.

  She came immediately, the walls of her pussy contracting around his fingers, her anus tightening around his cock. She let out a keening cry, her fists wrapping in the spider-silk blanket. He stayed buried in her until all the tension in her body disappeared and she went limp beneath him. Easing out, he cleaned them both with a washcloth and dropped beside her, pulling her soft form against him. “I’ve got to get you off Jesel, Doctor. Right away. I can’t risk your life again.”

  ~~*~~

  She watched Blade’s hulking form stalk into camp, a large deer-like animal hanging around his broad shoulders. She couldn’t deny the tingle of attraction shooting down her inner thighs and curling her toes. Man as hunter. It was as archetypal as archetypes get. Something never seen anymore on Earth. Men were the same as women. Jobs were interchangeable. Equality ruled the sexes as much as democracy ruled the Unified Countries. People worked indoors, with machines and computers. The air was not clean enough to work outside and no wilderness, other than the vacationer-packed designated land-parks, was left.

  His eyes found her across the field, and he lifted his chin in greeting. No smiles or waves from her warrio
r, but it incited a riot of excitement in her nonetheless.

  It had been four days since the attack on the other camp. She’d expected the transport ship to go out into space, but, when the next morning came, she’d found they had already landed at an alternative rebel camp. The rebels were more organized than she’d suspected. They kept the ship in cloaked mode and used it as their home base, still sleeping on it, but, otherwise, they sprawled out into the wilderness.

  During the day, Blade was at work, although never part of the military-like organization of the rebels. No, he was a lone wolf, finding his own projects or hunting. They continued to share a room at night. The first two nights, he’d come and collected her from the medical tent by tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her off. Last night, she grew wise and quit working before he came for her. The moment she’d walked out of the tent, his eyes had found her and he’d met her at the ship’s entrance.

  He had ravaged her as thoroughly as he had their first time every night. He took her in a variety of positions, made her come more times than she thought possible. He woke her in the night, tasted her again in the morning. Her body had never been so thoroughly used. She was sore in all her secret places and the feeling carried her through her days. For the first time, ever, she thought about something other than her work.

  Blade didn’t come to her now—he never did during the day. Instead, he brought his game to those in charge of meals and then vanished back into the trees.

  She turned to find Dasha watching her thoughtfully. The Varu’s eyes slid down her torso and rested on her belly.

  “What?”

  “You already know.”

  She hadn’t. Not until then. But she had suspected. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the lab equipment available to test her blood for hormone levels. Her birth control shot should have lasted until she returned as scheduled, but she’d felt...different. Of course, she’d never had so much sex in her life, so feeling different made sense. Why had the shot not lasted? Had the shorter days on Jesel counted as full Earth planet rotations?