An enormous baldaquin bed dominated the room. It was richly made up in deep red silks embroidered in fine gold thread.
"You can understand, I am sure, when I tell you that I take precaution quite seriously,” he said.
“I am a man surrounded daily by predators. Even among my trusted staff, good people like Flair, all of them go about their duty but always with an eye turned toward the least weakness.
"A man in my position learns quickly that being careful is not enough. One must be extravagant in caution.
"So it was that I voyaged here alone, and why you followed after me, separately. Basic precautions, nothing more.”
Braze walked across the room, appearing to survey the thick stone walls, before turning back to face her.
"You can well imagine, however, that my staff is the least of the difficulties that assail me.
"There are outside influences who search endlessly to gain a foothold in the company. Predators, one and all, who circle around me, intent on finding a fault line or fissure, anything that might aid them to gain an advantage, whether it be in my professional...or personal life."
With a gesture of his hand, he indicated the bed.
"You have already shown me confidence with the leap of faith it must have taken to leave for parts unknown.
"Now, I shall oblige you to show the true measure of the trust you place in me.
"On the bed, Sara."
She moved slowly toward the baldaquin. Something tickled at her, a sense of imminent danger.
"Why the hesitation, Sara? You did not come all this way for only a fireside chat and dinner."
He grinned then, and she could not help but think that it was a carnivorous smile, one that smelled its prey very near.
"I know I did not," Braze said.
She went to the bed then hopped up to sit upon its edge. The bedding was so thick and piled high that she had to jump a little to perch herself there.
"That's better," he said, "But really, you must lie down in the middle, Sara. That is where your comfort is assured."
She slid herself backward then toward the head of the bed. The silk pillowed around her as she moved and she imagined it would be like lying upon a cloud.
Once squarely in the middle, she let herself lie back upon the luxurious coverlet. Despite their surroundings, surely somewhere deep beneath the seaside château, the scent of fresh, clean bed linens was reassuring.
Braze cast her an appraising look and nodded.
"That's better." His words were edgy as if seeing her in the middle of all that blood red silk whetted his appetite.
He stepped away from her, then Sara heard the sounds of chains clinking. She looked to the side to see Braze drawing a thick chain through a metal loop fastened directly to the stone wall running behind the bed. But what chilled her more than the chain itself was that it terminated in something that resembled a handcuff, only far more massive.
That's no handcuff...that's a manacle.
In an instant, he had joined her upon the bed, kneeling at her side. With exaggerated slowness, he took her wrist and lifted it into the air.
"Trust me, Sara...trust me so that I can trust you." His eyes implored her.
Instead of screaming for help that would never come, she nodded. There was the metallic sound of a latch closing, then the cold of the manacle embraced her arm in its rusted grasp.
Before she could change her mind, Braze walked quickly to the other side of the bed to where the twin of the first manacle and chain awaited. Its hold was just as frigid as it went round Sara's forearm, locking into place.
“Ok. Now Sara, I would like you to lift your arms straight out above you and hold them together, wrist to wrist.”
The chains were heavier than she thought, but with some effort she brought her arms up, held straight above her chest.
Then, Braze pulled on a chain, drawing one arm away from the other still held straight out. When it reached a certain angle, he slipped an enormous bolt through a link in the chain, just behind the loop in the wall.
“You can rest that arm now.”
He went to the other side to do the same, and even if it meant that Sara could no longer bring her arms together...
There’s no way to fight him off now...so stupid...
...it was a relief to let her trembling arms fall to the mattress.
Braze stood still looking down at her for a long moment...long enough that it made Sara uncomfortable and she was forced to look away. Then, she heard his voice.
“You have a secret.”
Sara’s stomach lurched as she registered his words.
“There is a quality about you. Something that you think you’ve hidden deep inside, but despite your desire to set it apart it burns within you.
“Something of which you hope to never speak. Not out loud, not even to yourself.”
The bed shook as she felt his weight upon the mattress. A strong arm planted itself before her face and she was forced to look up at the man looming over her.
“You have something to tell me, don’t you, Sara?” His eyes burned in amber, a lava flow that threatened to immolate her from one moment to the next.
She closed her own eyes and in the same instant saw him again, battered derby hat held by fingers that were far too long to be real. That terrible, awkward gait as he came at her speaking words with a forked tongue.
“It’s your fault,” she said, trembling in fear for what she was about to say. “I didn’t know it could be like that and now that you’ve shown me, I can’t help myself.”
Sara swallowed and then in a whisper, said, “I want more...even if it means that I am going crazy.”
Braze frowned, then said, “You need to speak clearly. And, I mean right now.”
The volcano threatening behind his eyes was rising, she knew, and with no further thought to the consequences, the words tumbled from her lips.
“The last man I knew...the only man I’ve ever really known, used to come in the door and if I didn’t have his dinner on the table fast enough, or a beer in his hand just as quickly, or, most of the time, just for the hell of it, he would beat me.
“He was an artist at finding a reason to take off his belt and fold it over in half. Then, he’d look at me, daring me to defy him.
“In the beginning, I tried to. I really did. But the punishment he thought he owed me got so bad, I should’ve gone to the hospital a dozen times over. Instead, I learned to shut my mouth and clean dinner off the walls with my eyes blackened and swollen shut, and how to sweep up broken dishes when I could barely move for the welts all over my back.”
Braze had frozen. There was not even a blink of his eyes as he listened to her.
“After a while, I got faster with dinner and faster with his beers. I learned that he was right and that I deserved everything I got.
“And, I learned to hate that man, until I wanted to bury a steak knife in his heart each and every night, but he saw that, too, and pounded the look in my eyes out. When I tried to get help, no one was interested. He was too well known. Such a good old boy.
“And I had no one. I have no one.”
Still as a stone...Braze appeared to not even breathe as Sara spoke.
“I started setting a little bread money to the side. After a while, I added some milk money, too. It took me a long while and more beatings than I can count before I had enough.
“But, when I did, I got out.”
She tried to look away from him, to look anywhere but at him, but she could not. His image blurred and doubled while she continued.
“I headed for the city, thinking to get a job and make a new life for myself. And, it started to feel like things were turning around, finally going my way.
“Then I saw you and I haven’t been able to look away ever since.”
Braze sat back on his haunches then, studying her. Then said, “You’re holding back.”
The frown that followed his words frightened Sara more than she w
ould have liked to admit.
“When we were in the restaurant manager’s office...I asked you not to hurt me. Do you remember that?”
There was no response as she hoped for something, anything she might hold onto.
“I asked you that...but, it was a lie. I wanted you to.”
Heat trebled his face in her vision as she continued.
“If I’m afraid it’s because I want it so much. And because I think I went and found someone who could be just as bad as the last man to lay hands on me.
Her tears ran without ceasing as she said, “No...that’s not right. I think I found someone who could be far worse than he was.
“But the worst part is, with you, it goes beyond anything I ever felt before. I’m afraid of you because I don’t think I could ever say no...to you.”
Braze licked his lips, took a long breath and said, "There is a world of difference in pain destined for pleasure, and that wrought by a madman. It is true that I find discipline exquisite when it is expressed in feminine curves, a woman becoming the lens through which I might focus my desire.
"And you, Sara, may be that woman. I am consumed with lust for every inch of your body. And, it is for this that I am bound to discipline you, to teach you submission for both our sakes.
"But, know this...I will never let anyone hurt you. Do you understand me? Never. Take those fears and set them aside forever, for they serve nothing. The pain I shall bring you is one to be shared between us like the finest wine. A thing to be savored and not like some brute in search of proof of his own manhood while wielding crude leather.
"A single word from you and I shall bring you his heart upon a platter, Sara. His name is all I require."
Sara nodded as something like hope filled her. His beautiful face looked grimly down at her, but it was with concern and for that she felt gratitude that nearly overwhelmed her.
Braze brought his hand to her face and gently brushed away the tears that still streamed down her cheeks.
"For the moment, you shall stop weeping, Sara. Your lesson begins now and you will submit to me. Bite back that which serves nothing and prepare to learn."
Sara willed herself calm, searching for an eye of peace within the whirlwind of emotions storming inside her. With supreme effort, she slowed her breathing and focused upon the man whose eyes were filled with her and only her.
Finally, she calmed down enough to speak.
"Thank you..." she hesitated, then finished with, "...Master."
Braze did not smile, nor nod his head. He continued looking at her with a concentration that felt inhuman. Sara looked back at him, unsure if he waited for her to flinch away, or if he would take it as a sign of weakness.
Before she could decide one way or another, he took her shoulder in his hand and pulled upward, saying, "Roll over, my little slave."
Sara turned to the side, one arm forced back slightly as its chain came up short.
"You have not been as forthcoming as you should have been...and willfully so. For that transgression, I must punish you.
"And, for that, I have no need for something so crude as a leather belt. Not when my hand suffices."
With brusque movements, Sara's skirt was unzipped then quickly stripped away. She was exposed wearing only panties with a simple floral print. When she had chosen them she had thought that they were sexy with just enough of a little girl touch to make them naughty.
And, with a crack that resounded from the stone walls, Sara felt heat blossom across her bottom. He hit her hard enough that her entire body jolted and her teeth clicked together.
Braze did it again and again, moving from one cheek to the other and back again. And as he paddled her openhanded, his breath took on the cadence of his arm.
It was like fire, burning across her skin. And with each strike, Sara felt the flesh of her bottom recoil and jiggle in the most delicious way.
"You..." another blow landed, "...like..." and another, "...this...little slave." It was not a question. He had simply stated a fact and it was punctuated with the rhythm of his punishment.
She remembered that he did not want her to move while he went about his business. But, Sara could not help herself when, after each crack of his hand, her hips began to flex, pushing back at him. Giving herself over to his ministrations...asking for more when words were not permitted.
It was no accident that his hand began to strike lower, centered. As she gasped with each stinging blow, she knew that she had soaked through her little girl panties, that her lips were showing through cotton that had become more transparent with each smack he administered.
The pain fell lower, more concentrated.
Oh...he so knows what he's doing....
He was landing more of his palm against her nether lips and the jolt of pain Sara felt there was simply divine.
She did not want to...she knew that it was aberrant, not normal. But, she was falling hard for the man who could dole out such exquisite penalties.
He makes me want to be bad...very bad. Anything for more of...of...this.
The motions of her hips became more frank, clear in their intent. Sara thrust herself back at him, her bottom flexing and lifting to present herself to him. She was a thing in heat, rabid with a desire that showed.
It was not without effect.
Braze's hand ceased to fall and as Sara heard her own breathing coming hard and heavy, she heard his own in matching counterpoint.
She felt him moving behind her and she heard a rustling, what sounded like a shirt being undone and pants being taken down.
"I tell you, I am fevered for you, Sara."
His words were hot upon her ear as he placed his chest against her back.
"My restraint fails me."
She felt him reaching down to cup her hot bottom with one hand, then his hand slid lower, rolling her flesh in his grasp as he went.
Then, Sara gasped. It was the strangest feeling. Completely foreign and unexpected. Then it came again as Braze ran his thumb across her anus.
She shivered.
Oh...my...God....
He did it again and again, then the rest of his hand pressed against the wet of her crotch while his thumb rolled across the opening of her chute through the fabric of her panties.
"We have so much to discover, you and I, little slave. I want to show you just what you are capable of."
His touch was electric as he came again and again to stroke the forbidden. It was taboo...wrong.
And because of that, Sara wanted it even more.
I'm so filthy...a willing, filthy little girl in his hands.
Then Braze drew his hand up along Sara's back only to plunge down again, this time slipping under the thin elastic waistband of her panties.
Skin against hot skin. His strong, corded hand upon her full, blushing curves. Sara wanted to reach to Braze, to pull him tight against her. But, the chain was pinned under Braze's own body and Sara could barely move.
And, for just a flicker of a moment, she had time to notice that the manacle had slipped down her wrist to nearly cover her hand. For the space of an instant, she realized that the thing had been forged for men with no thought given to imprisoning a woman.
Then Braze was at her, pulling her panties down past her ankles to fall away to the floor.
His hands were upon her breasts, slipping inside her bra, then, this too was cast aside as his hard body pressed against her. Strong fingers took her nipples in their grasp and pinched hard as he ran his lips along her neckline. The sensation blazed like wildfire down her body, pinning her with dual spikes of mingled pleasure and pain.
"Master...please," Sara breathed, pushing herself back against him. "Please."
Fire lanced at her breasts as he gripped her nipples even harder, twisting them as he said, "That is for me to decide."
She could feel his member rigid against her bottom. She could feel him moving, readying himself to take her.
Sara did not want to cry again...but she wa
s coming dangerously close, her need dragging a whimper from between her lips.
The desire, the pain in her voice, lifted his cock in a hard twitch, then Braze drew back, breaking the physical connection between them.
A shudder rippled through her. It rocked through her flesh and Sara was not sure what was happening, then it happened again. Cool air slipped in to take the place of her man as he leaned back from her, then fire exploded between her legs as he impaled her.
His member was enormous, filling her full, as he stabbed his pelvis forward. Once more, Sara's teeth clicked with the force that rocked her body, then she cried out with the delicious agony of it all.
Pounding into her hard, he was brutal. An animal. Sara felt him lifting up inside her, his cock jerking in a spasm signaling that he was losing all control. She grinned even as she squeezed her eyes shut and a single tear ran down her cheek. He was all she had ever wanted.
Then, without warning, he was gone.
Not understanding what had happened, Sara dared to look back and she saw him there, a hands-breadth of distance separating them that might have been a thousand miles for the regret she felt welling up.
Then, he was lifting up her leg with an arm that was absolutely massive. It was the first time she had seen him completely unclothed and he was magnificent.
The smallest gesture made his skin ripple as his muscles bunched in chiseled perfection. And black markings curled over his body, some shaped in sorts of symbols, others in serpentine coils.
He set himself between her legs, forcing them wide with a single hand and as he lifted up to tower over Sara, she saw something else and she screamed.
The gorgeous amber that filled his eyes with a light of gemstones had turned a bloody red. It was as if the devil himself had taken his place, lacking only the stink of brimstone and ash.
"Your eyes," she cried out, then tried to pull herself back, but the manacles and chain drew Sara up short.
Braze jerked his head to the side then growled like an enraged beast. With a suddenness that felt like violence, he leapt from the bed and Sara cowered as she watched him sweep the candelabra to the floor with his arm.
Darkness fell.
Her Billionaire, Her Wolf--The Novel (A Paranormal Alpha Werewolf Romance) Page 9