by Zoey Marcel
Chanel let out tiny sounds of elation and arched into his attentive mouth as he suckled and loved on them.
“I want to try something with you,” he murmured gently, playing with the glorious brown strands of her soft, long hair. “Are you okay with that?”
“I can handle anything you give me,” she said haughtily.
He liked the sound of that. He brought her hands above her head and picked up the handcuffs.
Her eyes became saucers and her nostrils flared with sudden fear at his intentions. “No.”
“I’m not going to tickle you or torture you. I just want to touch you all over while your hands are secured. You’ll enjoy it. I promise.”
His hand touched her wrist lightly and she freaked and struggled beneath him. “No! You’re not going to handcuff me, you son of a bitch! Get off me before I kill you!”
Never in his years of having sex had Brad ever witnessed a reaction quite like that. Some women enjoyed bondage and some didn’t. No big deal. But this? Chanel flailed and clawed at him like he was holding her down and trying to kill her. He got off of her, completely baffled by her insane response to his advances.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Get out!” She wrapped her open pj shirt snugly around her to cover herself.
“I didn’t realize you had such a strong aversion to handcuffs. Why do you own them in the first place, then?”
“Get out!” she shrieked, coming at him and trying to shove him out of her room.
He didn’t budge. If she were his sub he’d paddle her ass good for throwing a tantrum like a spoiled little brat instead of just talking with him calmly about her reasons against bondage. “Stop acting bat-shit crazy and just talk to me. Why don’t you want me to handcuff you? I would never hurt you. You know that.”
“Get out of my apartment, you motherfucking deviant! Don’t come near me again!”
He took hold of her arm, becoming irritated. “There are ways to work through your problems, Chanel, but this bratty display isn’t one of them. Now, we can discuss this calmly like intelligent adults, or perhaps you need a spanking since you’re acting like a naughty child.”
She jerked free from his loose grip, eyes flashing with warning. “I am no man’s slave! You can’t break me, damn you!”
“Someday I’ll figure you out.” Brad shook his head and walked out with her following behind him like a squawking old hen.
“Get out and take your perverted inclinations with you! I don’t want any of it!”
He clutched the knob on the front door and turned back to glare at her. “Yes, you do, you dirty little liar. This isn’t over, not by a long shot. I’m not giving up on you. I refuse to lose you to someone else or whatever fears or doubts are holding you back. I’ll overcome them and I’ll never let you go.”
Her eyes welled with tears and her voice cracked. “Get out.”
“I know you want a ménage with us. What I don’t know yet is why you deny us when you want us more than anything. I’m going to unearth those fears and doubts and drive them from you. I’ll find out who hurt you and teach you to trust again.”
Tears streamed down her face and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Just leave!”
“If it’s the last thing I do I’m gonna put a ring on your finger and a collar around your neck and a baby inside of you.”
Her sobs became audible. “You shithead, are you hard of hearing?”
Brad wanted to throw his arms around her, but he left like Chanel claimed she wanted him to. But he knew that wasn’t what she really wanted.
Chapter Six:
What Happens in Vegas
Chanel drove for hours through the long stretches of natural terrain and the bustling cities and towns along the way. She felt each love song deeply, particularly the tragic ones. However, the silence when she turned the radio off was far louder.
She’d pissed Brad off and maybe injured his feelings if that was possible. A simple “no” to the handcuffs would’ve been fine, but no, she had to lose it like a lunatic and throw him out. She’d shouted at him and cussed him out of her apartment when all she’d really wanted was to cry on his shoulder and let him love her cares away.
She knew he was a Dom at The Gothic Angel and this knowledge turned her on as much as it made her leery. She remembered the rush of being disciplined, the thrill of being bound for a man’s pleasure, and the addiction of walking the fine line between pain and pleasure. Oh yes, she remembered it well.
Brad was into those sorts of things like she used to be and secretly still yearned to be. Chanel hungered for that lifestyle again even as it now frightened her. How could she crave something so badly that she feared more than death?
She couldn’t go there anymore, not ever again. Besides, Brad was a shape-shifter. She didn’t know what kind he was or Cory, either, for that matter, but being with a were creature on a regular basis was risky.
Dawson was an adorable bunny. He wouldn’t hurt a fly while in that form. But what about Brad and Cory? Brad told her that Dawson was the only rabbit shifter among them. So what were the other two? She’d be willing to lay money on it that Brad was probably something fierce and predatory—something a child should never be around.
Chanel rubbed her tummy in slow circles, wondering if there was anyone in there or if there soon would be. She hoped so. Good god, if three men couldn’t impregnate her through broken barriers then they were a sterile, useless lot. She had a strong feeling their sperm was good, though.
Her mind wandered back in time to that fateful autumn night fourteen years ago. The night her entire world came crumbling down around her all because of one powerful, damning word...yes.
Seeing Lucius kill a man in his wolf form had scared the shit out of her once the shock of the discovery had worn off. Chanel knew she had to leave him, but couldn’t shake the feeling that to do so openly would incur his wrath. So she’d discreetly looked for another job until she found one and gave her two-week notice at her other one.
Leaving her Master had been the second-hardest decision of her life after breaking up with Dawson. She remembered that day vividly. Lucius’s brother had come to San Francisco to visit. They planned on having a guys’ day together.
“You should come with us,” Lucius had invited her. “Everything is better with you.”
Those words had almost choked her up, but somehow she managed to hide her inner turmoil. “Thanks, but you guys should have some quality brother time together. I’ll entertain myself here.”
“I’ll miss you.”
Her eyes had misted when he caressed her face. “I’ll miss you, too.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m just tired.”
“You should take a nap.” He’d smiled down at the toddler in her arms and kissed his head. “I’ll miss you, too.”
Her heart had ached. How could the man who held her in his arms at night and was sensitive enough to kiss a little baby be the same man who’d shifted into a wolf and mauled a human being to death? How could she still love him after that?
Lucius had kissed her lips lightly, but Chanel had set Trevor down and grabbed Lucius for a longer, deeper kiss, knowing it was the last time she would ever see him.
He’d given her a lusty smile. “Kiss me like that and I might have to take a rain check on that brothers’ day out.”
She’d touched his face, committing every detail to memory. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
They’d kissed again and then he and his brother left.
She’d packed her and Trevor’s things quickly and looked around one last time at the home she’d made with Lucius. Then she walked out, blinded by tears.
She took little Trevor with her and they moved into an apartment together. The neighborhood wasn’t the greatest, but the rent was cheap and she really couldn’t afford anything better living on her wages alone. Lucius had made a rather lucrative income, but without it she’d had to do
wngrade.
Chanel always worried he would find her and sometimes she half hoped he would since she missed him so badly.
After a month, he showed up late one night on her doorstep. She still recalled the cold gust of wind that swept in when she opened the door to see him standing there. The sounds of the thunderstorm had provided a sort of resonant symphony, and he was soaked from the downpour.
He’d worn a long, black trench coat and a dark suit beneath it. She never could resist a man in a suit. The ominous look of the trench coat and the handsome allure of the suit combined with his buzzed haircut and mesmerizing, pale blue eyes reeked of undeniable sex appeal.
He hadn’t barged in like she’d expected him to.
“You left me,” he’d said calmly. “You promised not to.”
“I didn’t want to.”
“Yes, you did. You only love me as a man. You hate the wolf side of me. You rejected my love and my authority over you. You aren’t worthy of my love or my forgiveness.”
Her spirit had panicked over his words. “Please don’t say that. I’ve missed you so much. I need you in my life.”
His blue eyes had darkened. “You broke your Master’s heart, Chanel.”
“Leaving broke my heart, too.” She’d placed her hands on his cold, wet cheeks, loathing the hard distance in his expression. “I was just scared. I wanted Trevor to be safe.”
“I gave you my word that I would never harm you or the baby. Do you doubt the sanctity of your Master’s word?”
“No. I trust you completely.”
“And yet you left me and even now you leave me drowning on your doorstep without inviting me in.”
She’d held the door open wider for him. “Let me make it up to you.”
“You betrayed me, Chanel. How can you possibly make amends for that?”
She’d slipped the dress off over her head and lowered to her knees with her head bowed, wearing only a dark green bra and panties. “I would do anything for your forgiveness, Master.”
There was no mistaking the dark satisfaction in his tone. “I’m going to hold you to that. You would pay any price to win my forgiveness and suffer the worst of pain to prove you love me more than all others?”
His question had ignited a spark of fear in her, but she’d wanted to show him how sorry she was for her mistake and permit him to deal with her accordingly in his own way. “Yes, Master.”
“Then invite me in.”
“The door is already open.”
“Look at me.”
She’d raised her head only to be trapped by his beguiling eyes.
“I want to hear it from you. Are you inviting me into your home?”
“Yes.”
His smile had turned devious and he entered, closing and locking the door behind him before removing his trench coat. He’d jerked Chanel to her feet and caught her up in his arms. They’d made out almost violently while he carried her down the hall to the bedroom and she pushed his suit jacket down his arms.
Chanel still recalled the rush of his passionate kisses and the red-hot ecstasy of his touch. Lucius had shoved her to the floor roughly and loosened the tie around his neck while she’d fumbled to get his slacks open. He’d draped his tie around her neck and tugged it so her head was pulled forward and she was forced to suck his cock.
“Worship your Master’s cock, slave. I’m your owner, your superior, and your god.”
His words had spurred her on, clouding her mind with raw, possessive ownership. She was his and he would make sure she’d never forget it again. Chanel had felt the heat of her surrender as she gave everything over to him.
“Say it,” he’d growled. “Say I’m your god.”
To endow him with such a blasphemous title was unthinkable in light of her religious childhood teachings, but in that hedonistic moment, she’d denied him nothing. “You’re my god, Lucius.”
“Worship me. Give me your soul.” He’d removed her bra while she suckled him and groped her breasts, reminding her that they were his.
Chanel had worshiped his penis until he came in her mouth, commanding that she swallow him, and she was powerless to resist.
He’d torn off her panties and shoved her down on the bed, burying his face between her thighs as he ate at her pussy like a starved man. The savage urgency of his tonguing had been startling, exhilarating, and maddening all at once. He’d always been great at oral sex, but that night he had outdone himself. She’d come repeatedly all over his tongue as he ravaged her sex and ass with his mouth. His feral grunts had inflamed her with lust for him.
Chanel had always been shy whenever he fingered or tongued her anus, but he wouldn’t let her put any limits between them, and that night he’d absolutely dominated her quivering asshole, reminding her who owned it.
Lucius had practically thrown her back onto the bed when she stood and devoured her mouth while she struggled with the tiny buttons on his shirt. She’d moaned helplessly at the erection grinding against her cunt and belly whenever he moved up and down her. When she finally had him naked, she’d gone ballistic at the feel of their bare bodies rubbing against one another.
“You want your Master’s cock?”
“Yes! Please give it to me, Master.”
“Slaves who don’t trust their Masters deserve to be punished, not fucked.”
“Oh, please, I need you. I trust you.”
“Then prove it. Let me bind you as I used to.”
His suggestion had made her giddy. She’d always enjoyed being bound by him. “We can use your tie.”
“No. I brought handcuffs with me. We’ll use those. Pick them up off the floor and bring them to me.”
She’d done as he asked, remembering to kiss the handcuffs before offering them to him. He’d often made her kiss shackles, crops, and whips before using them on her.
Chanel came back from the past momentarily and clenched her fists against the steering wheel in rage. She had thought back then that his chaining her to the bed like he used to had been for erotic purposes, but on that particular night, Lucius had had an ulterior motive as well.
He’d fucked her good and hard until both were a sweating, writhing mess beneath the sheets as they came loudly, gasping for air. She’d truly thought he forgave her for leaving him. His act was so convincing he’d made her believe. What happened next was unconscionable and to this day it haunted her to know that it could’ve all been avoided had she never invited him in.
After praise and raunchy, tender endearments, Lucius had stood and dressed, but he left her nude and chained to the bed.
“I really am sorry for leaving you, Master. I never meant to hurt you.”
He’d kept his back to her while he fastened the buttons at each wrist of his long-sleeved shirt. “I know you are, princess. Close your eyes and open your mouth for me.”
She’d obeyed only to open her eyes again and find he’d stuffed a gag into her mouth. That was hardly unusual of him to gag her, but they’d already finished having sex, so she’d wondered why he did so.
His fingers had trailed all over the front of her body, eliciting shivers. His eyes had been lidded with silent admiration of the woman lying naked and bound for him.
When he’d raised his eyes to meet hers, Chanel had squealed into the gag in fright when she’d seen that his normally blue eyes were glowing yellow. She’d twisted against the handcuffs to escape him and free herself from their confines, but her efforts were futile.
His tone took on a shroud of darkness that amply conveyed his malicious intent. “You broke your promise, Chanel. And now I’m going to break mine.”
* * * *
Chanel’s hands started to shake and turn clammy when she saw the sign that said “Las Vegas.” According to the new crystal ball she purchased from the magic shop before leaving Temptation, Lucius was still here in Vegas. Whether he lived here now or was merely taking an extended vacation, she didn’t know. Either way, it didn’t matter. Nothing would alter the course s
he was set on.
After settling into her hotel room and enjoying a tasty late-night dinner, she summoned his image in the crystal ball. He was in a casino not too far from the hotel she was staying in. She put the sphere away and headed out.
After a while, she found a man of about six foot three with a hefty build making his way down a back alley in the darkness. She would know that form anywhere. The tall, confident way he carried himself told of his self-assurance rather than conceit. He always had the air of a leader, one who readily assumed authority and commanded respect simply by entering a room.
Chanel swallowed and stepped out into the open, hiding the gun behind her back. She froze when she saw him stop walking to sniff the air as if he’d caught a familiar scent. Before she could say his name to get his attention, Lucius turned around and faced her, seeming surprised to see her there.
“Chanel?”
Seeing him in his human form and hearing that deep, assertive voice speaking her name again like he’d done a million times before was strangely disarming. The voice and face belonged to her former Master, but that same voice had been used to threaten her and that face had turned deadly the night he destroyed her life for leaving him.
Staring at him now was like beholding a man who was half mortal and half demon. She didn’t know who he was or if the good in him could override the evil, or if his diabolical nature had overshadowed all the redeeming qualities she once believed to be true about him.
“Lucius,” she whispered, unable to utter anything more.
Being immortal, he hadn’t aged and still looked to be in his late thirties.
He took several harmless steps toward her, acting as though they were old friends separated for years and now it was time to catch up on all they had missed. “Is that really you? How long has it been?”
Chanel knew precisely how long it had been since that dreadful night when she last saw him. She couldn’t move or speak.
The idea of killing him had been a lot easier in her head, but standing face-to-face with her old lover and Master proved bittersweet no matter what he’d done. She couldn’t believe that the same man she’d shared her life and bed with for over two years was the same man who taught her to hate so deeply she’d almost forgotten what love was. Her tears had been so abundant because of him that she’d almost forgotten what it felt like to laugh.