by Hazel Hunter
Kieran started to speak, but then he stopped, frowning. She could see that he understood what she was saying, even if he hadn’t internalized it yet.
“That’s not the way punishment works,” Hailey continued. “Not really. What you need to remember is that you have already repented, even if you don’t understand that right now. You have made amends, you have saved lives, you have gone on to lead a productive life. What you need right now is punishment.”
He still looked dubious. When she brandished the riding crop in front of him, his eyes went wide and his mouth opened. He closed his mouth, licking his lips a little nervously. A part of Hailey was watching all of this very anxiously, afraid to misstep because if she did so now it would only hurt him more. Another part of her relished the shine of his eyes, the way that his body seemed to straighten up to attention when he looked at her.
“Hailey…”
“You don’t need to talk unless I ask you a question,” she said softly. “I am going to beat you. It is going to hurt. Then it will be over. Then you’ll be punished, and we can leave this place together. Do you understand?”
He started to speak, but then it was as if he was afraid that words would get the better of him. He only nodded.
Hailey felt the thrill of victory slide through her body. She had won, or at least she had her victory in sight. The thrill was real, though, sending a hot pulse through her body. She reminded herself that this was more for Kieran than it was for her. It would have been lying to state that she was unmoved, but if she allowed her feelings to run rampant in the Shadow Walk Prison, there was no telling what might manifest.
“All right. I want you to take off your clothes. Fold them up, and put them aside.”
Silently, he did as she said, removing his archaic clothes mechanically and folding them before laying them on the floor. She realized with interest that his body was the version she had known and loved so well. He was a man in his prime, and though the scars were clustered thickly on his flesh, she was pleased with the fact that he was closer to what he was in truth.
“You’re quite marked up,” she said casually. She reached out with her riding crop to tap a slash on his calf. “Where did this come from?”
“I was helping a coven move their base across international borders. Templars caught up with us in Cappadocia.”
“I see. And this mark on your arm?”
“Sword fight with a Templar in Paris.”
Hailey didn’t bother to hide her smile.
“And this little one here on your neck?”
“I was performing a search and rescue with another officer. A rope we were rigging slipped, and it burned against my neck.”
“That is a lot of pain and a lot of blood simply to make sure that others don’t suffer, Kieran. If there was a price to be paid, you began paying it a long time ago.”
She walked around his body. This time, instead of looking at the scars, she was looking at the whole of him. He was densely muscled like a predatory wolf or lion. There was a kind of beauty in the harsh lines of his body, the way his black hair stood out in stark contrast against his face. Though he towered over her, his eyes still sought hers as if he desperately needed to know what she thought and what she wanted.
When Hailey reached out her hand to touch one pectoral muscle, he shivered. She ran her fingers over his flesh, pausing to tweak one nipple, then the other. She was rewarded by the goosebumps that rose up on his flesh and the way he shifted from foot to foot.
They had made love in many different ways, but never before had his body been so open to her. He was a storm in bed. He had that same power, but now it was leashed. She found that she very much liked that command. She walked around him again, this time tracing her fingers down the muscles of his back and the dip of his spine. She traced it from the back of his neck to the small of his back, hesitating before she cupped his buttock with her palm. The sound he made was nothing more than an inhalation of air, but it was enough to know that he was painfully aware of her.
“Are you ready to pay? To be punished?”
Kieran nodded without speaking. She decided that was fine. She hadn’t commanded him to speak after all.
“Bring that chair over here.”
He did as she said. She positioned him so that he was bent over the chair’s high back with his hands hanging on to the seat. Even as tall as he was, the position stretched him out, held him taut for her. She realized that he was handsome like this, willing, open and vulnerable.
“This is going to hurt, and you are going to take it,” she said softly.
For a moment, she thought of an incident that Liona had told her about, where she and Lucius had first learned about the pleasure of a gentle birching after a bath in an underground hot spring. This was a little akin to that, she thought, but it was going to have to be harder if Kieran was to understand it.
She walked around so that she was facing his rear and his legs. After a moment’s thought, she pressed her booted foot to the inside of his foot, making him widen his stance. Now he looked incredibly open to her. She could see him, but he couldn’t see her.
“Hailey…”
“You may call my name, you may thank me for punishing you. If you feel you are done, you may tell me and I will consider it. Otherwise, I will beat you as I see fit.”
The sound that came out of him was nothing more than a whimper. On an impulse, Hailey reached down between his legs and realized that he was quite hard. She grinned. That was fine too, she decided.
She tapped the length of the riding crop against his buttocks, measuring the shaft and how it would fall. She reached back with her arm and pantomimed a full stroke, trying to see where it would land. She thought that if she worked slowly, she could lay the stroke on with a fair amount of accuracy.
“All right. I’m starting now.”
She lifted the crop and brought it down with a whistling speed across his rear. The sound was like a gunshot in the quiet room, followed by an almost delayed pained grunt from Kieran. Hailey stopped to inspect her work. There was a clear red line right across the rise of his rear, though it was not raised at all. When Hailey curiously ran her thumbnail along its length, Kieran squirmed deliciously for her.
She took aim, drew back her arm, and landed another one just an inch above the first. This time, Kieran’s grunt was heavier. There was another stripe almost precisely parallel to the first.
“Yes, this is what you need, isn’t it darling?” she murmured.
She hadn’t expected him to respond, but he nodded.
“Yes, Hailey.”
There was a softness to his voice that she had never heard before. It made her want to hug him, but it also made her want to hit him harder. After all, she had a job to do here.
“You’re doing very well, darling,” she said sincerely. Then she struck him again.
She worked her way up and down his rear, paying special attention to the roundest part, where he sat. The marks turned a livid red, but she was careful. She never broke the skin.
Kieran took the strokes calmly and well, but by the end, he was biting back yelps with each stroke, shifting on his feet and jumping.
Final time pays for all, Hailey thought, moving slightly and taking careful aim.
The final blow ran a straight diagonal across his buttocks, crossing almost every welt she had laid on him. This was the hardest blow yet, and Kieran did yelp this time. He straightened up hard, his hands raising as if he wanted to clutch the abused skin. Then he regained control of himself, getting back into position. She marveled at the idea that he would get down for more pain.
“There,” she said softly. “It’s done, it’s all over.”
There was a sigh that was almost a sob in his voice, and slowly he rose and turned around to face her. He wasn’t crying, exactly, but his eyes were wet. It was more than just the pain she had inflicted on him, she realized. It was the relief of having a heavy burden taken away. It was done, it was over, and Kiera
n could hardly believe it.
“Come here,” she said, drawing him towards the bed.
To her surprise, it wasn’t the simple straw cot that she had seen before. Instead it was a normal bed, though a fairly large one. There was a plump white coverlet on it, and when she drew back the covers, she found crisp white sheets.
Now that she looked around, the entire room had changed. It was a fairly spacious, cozy bedroom, with a flat television hung on the wall facing the bed, and large windows that were currently curtained. It was a room for people to live, sleep and love. The candles that she had placed still burned, though they did so from a long mirrored dresser.
“Shh, here we are,” she said, guiding Kieran to bed.
She lay him down on the clean white sheets, pausing only to strip off her boots and her clothes. Then she climbed in next to him, sitting with her back against the padded headboard.
Moving as if he had fought off an entire horde, Kieran crawled to her so that he was sprawled across her lap, his head pressed against her belly.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Gods above, thank you, Hailey.”
“I will always give you what you need,” she said quietly. “If I can, I will always try to offer you things that make you happy.”
She rubbed his scalp with her fingertips, making him purr. With her free hand, she stroked his body, taking pleasure in the sheer feel of him. Curiously, she ran her hand over his hip, and then around to the curve of his buttocks. His flesh was almost shockingly warm. The welts were just a tiny bit raised. The feel of them aroused her, making her squirm.
Something about her posture must have alerted Kieran to her state, because he made a curious noise.
“What’s the matter, Hailey?”
“I… when I started, you were hard,” she said.
He chuckled a little, rolling over so that she could see him more easily.
“I never really stopped,” he said.
She looked at his erection, licking her lips. He looked delicious, and if his ass was red because she had been beating it, it only made him more attractive to her. For a moment, she thought of condoms, but then she realized that they were in a dream world. She was a little disappointed that he wouldn’t have those wonderful marks when they woke up, but that meant that other acts wouldn’t have consequences either.
“Kieran, I want you to lie on your back.”
Her firm and decisive tone brought a pink blush to his cheeks. He did as she said without a word, only flinching a little when his sensitive flesh made contact with the cool sheets below him.
He was laid out for her like a feast, and Hailey took full advantage. She rained small kisses over his face, teasing his mouth until he was begging for her. She slipped her tongue between his lips, thrusting it in aggressively and moaning in satisfaction as he started sucking.
I want to see you do this with Piers, she thought absently, but then she was too aware of her lover and his body to keep that thought in her mind.
When Kieran reached for her, she pinned his hands down to his sides.
“You can touch me when I tell you you can touch me,” she said, and he nodded, though it looked as if it pained him.
She threw one leg over his thigh and straddled him, sitting just below his cock. She took it in her hands, touching the clear bead of liquid at the tip. She spread it all over the head of his cock, making him moan.
“I’m going to fuck you,” she said.
From the desperate sounds he made, she could tell that that was what he wanted as well.
She gathered up the slick from his cock, and making sure that he was watching, she spread it between her own legs. His eyes widened as she spread herself wide, playing with her clit and dipping a finger into her own sweet depths. She moaned, letting him know in no uncertain terms how good it felt.
“You’re going to feel so amazing inside me,” she crooned. “You’ll be so lovely when I’m on top of you.”
“Please, please, please, Hailey, that’s all I want…”
“Am I really what you want?” she mused quietly. “Am I truly something that you need with you?”
“With every fiber of my being, with every bit of my soul,” he promised. “I love you. I need you with me, darling.”
The pleasure she felt at those words was amazing. It was something that she had needed to hear for what felt like her entire life.
“I love you, Kieran,” she said softly.
“I love you.”
For a moment, she simply pressed herself against him. It was a strangely beautiful calm in the middle of their storm. It did not feel unnatural, however. It was simply a part of the way that they were made to be together.
Then her arousal reasserted itself. She wanted him, and she wasn’t going to be denied a moment longer.
“Are you ready, love?” she whispered, her voice soft and sultry. “Are you ready to please me?”
“Forever,” Kieran swore fervently. “I am ready to please you for the rest of my life and beyond.”
With a soft pleased sound, Hailey slid her leg over Kieran’s hip, mounting him the way she would a horse. For a moment, she straddled his thighs, gazing down at his dark erection. She ran her palm down its length, marveling at how hard and lovely it was.
When Kieran reached his hands up to touch her, she pushed them back.
“Hands behind your head,” she whispered huskily. “I don’t think I gave you permission to touch me.”
Kieran groaned, his beautiful body shaking beneath hers. He wanted to touch her, she could tell. He wanted to bury his cock deep inside her, to make her cry out from pleasure. Right then, however, he wanted to please her more.
She squeezed his cock in her hand before palming his balls. The motion made him squirm, moaning a little. That moan became a startled cry when she squeezed them gently as well. She was careful; she didn’t want to do him any real injury, but it was amazing to watch a dull flush redden his face. He squirmed beautifully.
When Hailey let up, he looked up at her with imploring eyes.
“I need you so much, darling,” he whispered. “I need you, I love you, please, please…”
Hailey finally took pity on him, moving herself so that she sat directly over his cock. She let him feel the wetness of her slit and the light tangle of hair there. It aroused her as well that this powerful man was lying so open and vulnerable to her. It was amazing to see him squirm and twist, longing for her, needing her, all but begging for her.
She grew tired of teasing. She reached down between their bodies, giving herself a delicious shiver as she did so when her fingers brushed against her clit. She shifted his cock until it was at a comfortable angle.
Slowly, moving so that there was a light burn down her thighs, she started impaling himself on her cock. He was broad and hard, making it sting just a little, but she found that she loved that as well. They had all the time in the world. She knew it. She could feel it in her bones. There was no reason that she couldn’t take her time. She inched down his cock, keeping her breathing slow and even. She could feel his body strain beneath her like a full-blooded stallion being held under rein.
“You want to bury yourself in me,” she said, still a small space from being fully seated on his body. “You wish you could be making me scream right now.”
The only response that Kieran could muster was a deep groan. Even then, however, he didn’t thrust up into her. He didn’t do anything that she didn’t ask him to do, and that was wonderful in its own right. She knew that he wanted her badly enough to beg, but it was intoxicating that he was so still and so obedient.
Hailey took a deep breath, pushing herself full down on his cock, drawing a deep cry from both of them. Being able to feel the full length of his cock inside her made her gasp with pleasure. Biting her lower lip between her teeth, she started to ride him, her hands braced on his chest.
“Let me touch you, please,” Kieran murmured.
“No, not yet,” Hailey gasped. “I want
to… to use you, I want you all for myself.”
If anything, her cruel words made him harder inside her, made him moan wildly and with longing for her.
She loved riding him, adored how powerful he was beneath her. Her body was sleek with sweat, and she rolled over him more easily. Finally, she took pity on him, reaching down for his hand and placing it between her legs.
“Make me come,” she whispered fiercely. “If you can’t…”
She left the threat hanging in the air. It was all she needed to say, he rolled the pad of his thumb over her slick clit, making her movements faster and more erratic. She was still controlling their motion, but now he was controlling her as well. Now she was feeling the powerful chain of sensations that ran from where he filled her to his hand on her most intimate parts. The sensations were building up and building up in her. She tried to hold them off because the waiting was a pleasure too. She didn’t need to hurry to her climax. She didn’t need to rush to the payoff.
Instead, she simply reveled in the state of erotic tension that they had created. She could feel Kieran’s body bucking underneath her. She incorporated that into her pleasure as well, letting it all create a tide inside her that would inevitably roll over her.
Soon, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fight the feelings off any longer. The pleasure started in her belly, sending waves of shocks throughout her frame. She reached down to dig her nails into Kieran’s shoulders, holding herself steady as they tore through her. She held out for as long as she could, but then her own climax was too powerful. It started as a growl before becoming a roar. She was shouting with it, digging her nails hard into Kieran’s flesh.
At some point during her climax, she felt him give up as well. His body tensed like a bow underneath hers, he arched up hard. She had never felt him spill inside her before, but now she knew how wonderful it was to feel that liquid heat shoot her full.