SurrendersMischief

by Alvania Scarborough

Her hand tightened on the dagger.

  Yes. Kill me. Kill me before I kill you.

  She froze as the words formed in her brain. But the thought wasn’t hers. It was the beast’s.

  “No!” She threw the dagger across the room. It hit the wall before falling to the floor.

  Foolish woman. Now you will die. The silver eyes glowed with rage and pain.

  Where her courage came from she could not say, but Danella met the fury of the beast with calm command.

  “You will not hurt me. You will obey me.”

  Obey you? A mask of arrogance settled over the scaly face. I don’t take commands, I give them.

  How could she have been so blind? The silver eyes, the air of arrogance. She’d seen them before, in the painting that hung in the solar. The man haunted her dreams. Lord, warrior…slave.

  His name was Morganth. He was Ranuld’s older brother.

  How had he come to be trapped in the body of a dragon? The mystery intrigued her, but not as much as the man himself.

  A man who bowed his head to no one. A man who mastered all he saw.

  Except…

  A man who would submit his formidable will to her in the bedroom.

  Hers.

  Hers to tie to the bed.

  Hers to tease and torment.

  Hers.

  His cock.

  His balls.

  His ass.

  Just remembering her dreams caused her pussy to swell and grow moist, her nipples to contract and harden. A fire burned in her belly.

  But first she had to make him accept he belonged to her.

  Riana slowly closed the book. Swiveling the chair, she looked out the open window. The grass was dry and brittle, the plants wilting. In the distance, the range of mountains shimmered, blue and cool, in the midafternoon heat. It was an illusion, she knew. The entire country-state was suffering the effects of the drought.

  She took a deep breath of the hot, dry air and released it slowly.

  Darias refused to acknowledge that he belonged to her.

  Until he accepted that, he would continue to fight her.

  A part of her enjoyed the battle between them…but not in the bedroom. There, she would rule.

  Her mouth set in a firm line. Darias would submit, even if it took upending him over her lap every night. A slow, sensual smile relaxed the tight lines of her lips.

  She would make sure he enjoyed every slap of her hand, whether he wanted to or not.

  It was time to take the play between them to a new level.

  Riana tapped one nail on the supple leather of her short skirt. Although, play was not exactly the correct word. Every since she’d used the stim paddle on Darias, he’d defied her more and more, determined to gain back the control he’d lost to her. He liked—no, craved—what she did to him in the bedchamber and that, she realized with a flash of insight, terrified him more than the idea of having his butt blistered in the Great Hall.

  Regaining his position of Supreme Chief translated to regaining control of his responses to her.

  The struggle between them, though, played within certain, accepted rules. No longer were outsiders brought into it as each attempted to outmaneuver the other. A small smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. Though Darias would sooner be trampled by a wild chelan than admit it, he took care to avoid pushing her to the point of spanking his ass in real punishment again. Thus the battle between them had become a delicate balancing act of defiance and dominance, of play and passion.

  Even in the bedroom. Since that night she used the stim paddle, he’d forced her to make him submit to her demands. But she could sense him struggle against the desire to simply hand her complete control over his body and responses.

  And that caused her to see how far she could push him. It also forced her to realize something else.

  She loved dominating him.

  Perhaps that revelation should disturb her, but it was somehow as if her time spent as his slave, subject to his whims and punishment had set something loose in her. Something that craved having a strong man surrender to her on the most basic level there was between a man and a woman.

  She shifted in her chair.

  Zethra, what did that make her? She’d never gotten her jollies by beating a man or by being the one in total control. Being in Nexar set free a side of her that she had kept hidden from even herself.

  A side that she liked.

  Perhaps too much.

  She waited to feel uncomfortable with that thought. All she felt was the tingle of excitement at the coming conflict. She set the book on the polished surface of her desk. She would start today. Now. Filled with renewed determination, she went in search of Bryta.

  * * * * *

  Her heart pounded and her throat was dry. Could she do this? Could she take their relationship this far? Up until now, the lines were drawn along comfortable boundaries. Daytime was for battle of ruling the country-state, night for their private battle. An intimate time of hot, sweaty sex and cautious sharing of thoughts and dreams.

  Was she about to ruin everything in her desire to dominate this one man?

  The door to the bedchamber opened and her spinning thoughts screeched to halt. Surreptitiously, she dried her sweating palms on the midnight spidersilk of the comforter.

  “You wanted to speak to me?” There was just enough taunting arrogance in Darias’ tone to straighten her spine. She lifted her chin and put a chill in her own voice.

  “Come here.”

  Caution flashed across his face, to be replaced almost instantly by a slight smirk. He shut the door behind him then sauntered across the room, a deliberate swagger in his walk.

  She could tell he believed they were about to have another discussion about his attempted disruption of the running of the household, but it was equally clear he wasn’t truly worried. After all, it was before the midday meal.

  She allowed a slow smile to curve her lips.

  His stride faltered.

  Darias recovered almost immediately. He stopped in front of her, hands behind his back as he inclined his head with mock deference. “Bryta said you wanted to see me. How may I serve you, Supreme Chief?”

  Riana ground her teeth together, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing just how irritating the appellation was becoming. He had taken to using the formal address at every turn. He did it just to annoy her and, blast him, it worked! The glint in the eye said he knew it.

  Time to remove that smugness.

  Riana put her hands behind her, crossed one leg over the other and leaned back casually. She knew the position threw her breasts into prominence while her crossed legs hiked up her skirt to show a shadowed glimpse of her moist pussy.

  His cock twitched.

  “Unfasten your breeches.”

  He licked his lips, his gaze darting up to hers before being drawn back to that shadowed vee between her legs.

  “Now!” Her voice cracked into the silence. His fingers shot to the fastening of the silken trousers. The material dropped to the floor with a sensuous rustle. All the while, his gaze didn’t budge.

  “Remove the thong.” His lips were parted slightly, and his breathing increased. He did as instructed and his cock sprang free, fully engorged and eager.

  She paused to admire it—long, thick and pulsing with need. At the base, her hand would not close all the way around it.

  “Riana, it is day and Nexarian tradition doesn’t allow…”

  “Silence!” The command hung on the hot and heavy air. His mouth snapped shut and his gaze finally met hers. Something he saw in hers filled his with wariness.

  Rising, she strolled around him. She touched the tip of her finger to the bulbous head of his cock. It jerked. His chest heaved.

  “You may not speak until I give permission.”

  “You’re joking.” A scowl wiped some of the lust from his expression. “I refuse…”

  “You have earned your first punishment.”

  His mouth open
ed and then snapped shut as her meaning penetrated. Was she talking about punishment like when they were doing love play or was she referring to bent-over-the-chair, ass-on-fire spanking of real punishment? Riana knew it was the uncertainty of the answer to that question that stayed his objection. She wasn’t in a hurry to ease his mind.

  Continuing her slow rotation around him, she trailed her finger over his hip, to the small of his back. She traced an intricate pattern there with the tip of her nail.

  He shivered.

  Power surged through her. She could make this massive warrior shudder with the touch of a finger and force him to obey against his natural dominant instincts. She continued walking until she was standing directly in front of him.

  Her voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. “New rules. One, whenever we are in private you will be naked at all times unless you are preparing to leave the room.” His jaw clenched, but his erection didn’t wilt. “Two, when alone, you will not speak unless I give you leave. If you have a question or feel the need to talk, you must first ask my permission. I may or may not give it.”

  Riana could feel moisture seeping down her inner thigh. She pushed the knowledge of her arousal to the back of her mind and continued with laying down her rules. “Three, you will assume a respectful stance whenever I enter the room.” A dark flushed burned the high masculine curve of his cheek.

  “Permission to speak?” The three words sounded dragged from the depths of his soul.

  She repressed a grin and nodded regally. “Permission granted.”

  “What do you consider a respectful stance?”

  Defiance practically dripped from the carefully phrased question. She let it pass for now. “You will clasp your hands behind your neck and widen your stance until your feet are spread farther apart than your shoulders. Your gaze will remain lowered until I give you permission to meet my eyes.” Anger, raw and pure, flashed in his golden gaze at the instructions. Riana decided to push even harder. “If I command that you present yourself, you will spread your feet apart as far as they will go, bend over from waist and, using both hands, spread the cheeks of your ass so that I may see everything that belongs to me.”

  “Damned if I will!”

  “You have now earned your second punishment.” She took a step back. “Remove your tunic.”

  His hands clenched at his sides. Riana lowered her voice until it was whisper-soft. “If you make me tell you a second time, you will receive a third, more severe punishment.” She kept her expression stern with an effort, refusing to allow him to see her uncertainty. If he defied her on this, used his strength to back that refusal, she would lose. She wasn’t a fool. She knew the only thing that had kept him in line up until now was his word. He’d rather die than break it. The question was, could she make him want to submit more than he wanted to defy her?

  Not knowing the answer dried her mouth to the point she couldn’t swallow and caused the blood in her veins to move with a slow, heavy pulse.

  His hands went to the hem of the sheer tunic.

  Her knees went weak with relief. Her gaze was drawn to his erection. Despite his very real fury with her demands, he swelled even more and a drop of pre-come clung to the small slit.

  She ached to taste it.

  Instead, she moved over and sat on the bed. “Across my lap.” Shoulders stiff, his movement lacking his usual warrior’s grace, he laid himself across her thighs, resentment in every taut line of his back.

  Riana took a moment to admire the breadth of his shoulders, the flex and play of work-hardened muscles, and the involuntary clenching of his buttocks. She smoothed one palm over the tight curve. The impulse to sink her teeth into that firm muscle, to taste him, made her withdraw her hand and fist it.

  Keep your mind on the goal, his surrender.

  “Do you know why I am going to spank you?”

  “Because I spoke without permission, Supreme Chief.”

  The man had truly managed to turn those two, tiny words into the ultimate insult. She smacked his butt, hard enough to sting but not hurt, to show she was aware of what he was doing. “Correct.” Without warning, she started to spank him. Each blow was seemingly random placed. Some were harder than others, but always the intensity increased.

  His cock jumped against his thigh and he buried his hands into the spidersilk comforter. Several minutes later, his ass was bright red and there was a growing wet spot on her thigh. Her free hand rested on his back and she could feel the thunder of his heartbeat. He was close to coming.

  She stopped.

  He shifted and for a moment she thought he might protest. “You may get up now.” His head spun around and she read shocked disappointment on his face before his expression hardened as he rolled to his feet.

  Oh yes. The man understood exactly what the real punishment was going to be. Riana stood, smoothed her skirt and walked to the door. Once there, she glanced back.

  “You may return to your duties.”

  * * * * *

  “Darias?”

  “What?” he barked, turning to glare at Gaith as the other man approached. His mood was foul. His ass still stung with an irritating persistence while his cock refused to believe it wasn’t going to be buried in Riana’s hot depths.

  Not that he blamed it. He was having trouble believing it himself.

  “We have a problem.” Gaith shifted, his gaze somewhere over Darias’ left shoulder. Obviously his First knew of the punishment and was trying to spare him.

  An equal amount of embarrassment and fury stiffened his features. Riana would pay for his shame. He shoved his chagrin away and glanced about them. Several people were in earshot. He motioned for Gaith to precede him into an empty room. Pulling out a chair, he straddled it, allowing no sign of his discomfort to show. He nodded his head. “Sit.”

  Gaith’s swarthy skin darkened and he stared at the wall. “I’ll stand.”

  Darias looked closer. The other man shuffled his feet and couldn’t quite hide his wince. A muscle in his jaw twitched and even more color seeped into his cheeks.

  The signs were familiar.

  A muscle began to jerk in his jaw. The woman was infecting the other women with her offworlder ways. With an effort, he brought his attention back to the matter at hand.

  “What is the problem?”

  “They discovered our stealth program.”

  “Did punishment have anything to do with that discovery?”

  “No.”

  “Do they understand the program is designed to copy then corrupt certain files?”

  “Yes.”

  He ran his hand through his hair. “Krel. Can the day get any worse?”

  Gaith met his gaze squarely. “Bryta knows I planted the program.”

  Darias went very still. “And?”

  “Public punishment tonight.”

  Darias exploded out of the chair. “No. You were under my orders.”

  “You can’t stop punishment.” He sounded resigned, and that infuriated Darias even more.

  “I will take it.”

  “You cannot. I told Bryta you were not involved.”

  “You should not have done that.” He slashed the air with his hand. “I am your commander.”

  “And I am a warrior. I knew the risk I took. Regaining control of Nexar is worth any punishment.”

  “Is it worth your relationship with Bryta?”

  A frown creased his friend’s brow. “What do you mean?”

  “Will you be able to forgive her a public punishment?”

  Garth’s hands fisted until the knuckles turned white. “I do not know.”

  * * * * *

  “Call Bryta off.”

  The door to his former office slammed into the wall and rebounded. He caught it in one hand without looking and shut and locked it. He was pleased to see Riana jump at the explosive sound.

  She looked perplexed. A slight frown creased her delicate brow. “What do you mean? Call Bryta off what?”

&nbs
p; “Don’t.” He stalked across the plush rug and planted both hands on the desk. “Play.” He leaned in until he was looming over her. “With me.” He enjoyed the flash of feminine fear in her green eyes.

  She straightened slowly, her fingers gripping the edge of the desk. She licked her lips. “I’m not playing with you. What are you talking about?”

  “Gaith and his public punishment.” Was that surprise in her eyes? He narrowed his own. “Make her call it off.”

  “The decision is between Bryta and Gaith.”

  “You can stop it.”

  The green eyes suddenly gleamed like fireice. “I seem to remember a similar conversation between us. I also seem to remember punishment in the garden.”

  “Don’t obfuscate this conversation.” He leaned in even closer. Close enough that he could smell the floral scent of her perfume, and the underlying scent of woman. Despite his anger, his cock reacted. “I demand you call a halt to the punishment.”

  She stood and leaned in until they were nose to nose. “You demand?” she inquired, her voice very soft. “You do not have the right to demand anything.” A smile curved her lips, but there was no amusement in her eyes. Much to his disgust, a spark of caution flared to life. If he had learned one thing over these past weeks, it was that her will was every bit as strong as his. And that included the will to punish him for what she considered infractions.

  “We are private.”

  The non-sequitur threw him. “What?”

  “Do you need a reminder of the rules?” she purred.

  Blood pounded in his temples. For a moment, Darias actually thought in his fury he might burst a vein. “We are not in the bedchamber,” he grated out.

  One eyebrow arched. “Did I confine those rules to our bedchamber?”

  “Yes! You sai—” Abruptly, he recalled her exact words. Fuck. She said when they were private, not when they were in the bedchamber. He ground his back teeth together until his jaws hurt.

  “What is rule number one?” Straightening, she crossed her arms under her breasts. His wayward cock didn’t seem to recognize the danger in her stance.

  That he’d be naked whenever they were private. Darias turned on his heel. Krel if he’d play this particular game. His hand was on the door latch when she spoke.