He’d almost thrown them in the fire, but hadn’t been able to do that without talking to Church first. “In the attic. They’re not classy, though. Just stupid ones we made when we were kids.”
“Awww! I want to see them! Those need to go on the tree!”
“No.” He snorted. “We kept trying to talk Sutton out of using those, but she insisted every year. When Ilse started coming around I thought Church was going to die – Sutton showed her every one and told her when we’d made them. So ridiculous. Just old art projects from when we were little. They belong in the garbage.”
The pups were still frisking around their feet, showing no signs of playing themselves out. Silly things. Cute, but completely impractical.
“I bet Ilse thought your ornaments were adorable. The way Sutton felt about you two, I’m not surprised that’s what she chose to decorate the tree with.”
He grimaced.
“Guys are weirdly unsentimental,” she said gravely, as if not wanting to hang on to ugly pinecone men with popsicle stick skis was a sign of gender-based inferiority.
At that point they arrived at the clearing he’d had in mind, and he stopped. “Here. I was thinking of using one of these ones,” he said, pointing out five trees of various heights. They’d be easy to cut down and drag out because they were in the open. How big do you want it?”
She winked. “You know exactly how big I want it.”
“I don’t, actually,” he pointed out. “Every time I fuck you, you start whining – Mister Leduc! It hurts! It’s too big!”
She glared at him. “You should quit lifting weights with that thing. I swear it’s bigger every time. It definitely didn’t need the hardware, although it’s really freakin’ hot.”
“The tree, woman. Focus. Why are you talking about my dick again?” Her obsession with his piercings and the attention she gave them amused him. When he’d had them done, he hadn’t thought anyone would actually see them except Rodrigo. Well, at least his dick was a novelty – maybe more like a freak show – even if he wasn’t the most skilled lover she’d ever had.
Her gaze traveled downward, to his zipper. He could force her to her knees and make her suck him. She never objected when he did.
“The tree.”
“The tree?” She raised her gaze to his again then flushed. “Oh.” Struggling with unruly puppies, she made her way closer to the trees. She walked back and forth, looking them over, then finally turned back to him and shrugged. “You’re to one who has to chop it down and drag it back. You pick.”
He trailed the ax down her arm, and she shuddered even though there were two layers of clothing between her and the blade.
“Miss Korsgaard, I told you to pick one. I don’t think you want me to punish you out here in the cold, with your pups watching.”
She sucked in a breath. “Tattoo.”
“What?” he looked at her, baffled then remembered it was her safeword.
“Axe play – hard limit. I just thought I should let you know right away, in case you were having...thoughts.”
Menacing her with an axe hadn’t crossed his mind, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Shit. There goes my festive kink idea. Would you prefer the chainsaw?”
“Mister Leduc!”
He was still smirking when he went to size up the tree.
*
The girl swept up the mess his empty coffee cup made after it had hit the flagstone floor. He’d pushed it off the edge of his desk when she wasn’t looking, but only Rodrigo had seen it happen.
On her knees, she used the small brush and dustpan to get the sharp shards out of the grout between the stones, her every motion jiggling her perfect breasts. Not that Severin was watching. He was reading, and very pointedly not watching.
Just like he hadn’t watched her in fascination as she made more decorations for their Christmas tree – although that had brought on completely different feelings.
“May I go to the kitchen to throw this out, Mister Leduc?”
“You may,” he said with false distraction.
She rose and padded barefoot out of the room, her naked body small and lush compared to the cold grandeur and elegance of the house. In the distance he could hear the pups howling. All four of them. The hooligans were stuck in their bedroom behind a gate while Rodrigo visited, because they couldn’t leave them unsupervised in most rooms of the house.
Rodrigo watched her go while Severin studied his appreciative gaze.
“I need to get one of those,” his friend murmured, leaning sideways in his chair to keep her in view a moment longer.
“It’s not like you’d have trouble finding one.”
“It would be hard to find one like her.” Rodrigo tapped his coffee cup thoughtfully. “You’re keeping her naked all the time now?”
“Not all the time. Just when the mood strikes me and the dogs are gated in their room – otherwise that might get awkward. By the time Church, Ilse and the kids get here I’ll have dressed her, but for you there’s no point.”
He’d also have to stop using her sexy little body anytime the mood struck him. After he’d fucked her on the dining room table the night before she’d complained she’d have to clean it again, but she’d been breathless and flushed. After he took her, her eyes got that sexy satisfied look, and she burrowed against him whether he liked it or not. At first he’d tolerated it, knowing he was supposed to allow it, but now he fucking lived for it.
Rodrigo shifted in his seat, as though pained. “Oh, there’s a point to keeping her dressed around me. Being able to hang out here without having a perpetual boner would be nice.”
Funny, her being naked gave Severin the same problem. “You’ve already had her. You’re still interested?”
Rodrigo raised a brow. “In little Miss Korsgaard? Always. You’re a lucky bastard.”
Severin put his book down and stared at him hard. “If you ever try to take her from me, I’ll fucking kill you.”
For a long moment, Rodrigo just watched him in half-lidded indulgence, like a drunk guy patiently watching his drunk friend being an ass.
“The best part is I’m aware you mean that literally. Why would you think I’d do that to you? You’re my best friend.” Rodrigo shook his head. “You have no idea what to do with your feelings for her, so you’re getting all grunty and territorial. You’ve already marked her as yours – between the bracelet and the nipple piercings and that monstrous collar I’d say you’ve made your claim pretty clear.” Rodrigo sipped his coffee. “What else can you do? I won’t tattoo your name on her face or anything like that, so forget about it.”
“I’m planning to brand her today,” Severin said as evenly as he could.
Rodrigo’s mouth opened, then closed again. “I should talk you out of this, but honestly, I really need to watch.”
“Will you hold her down for me?”
“Hell fucking yes.”
“This is the worst idea I’ve ever had.”
“Agreed.”
They both turned to watch the door.
“Does she know?” Rodrigo asked.
“No.” His mouth quirked. “I already made the brand, though.”
Rodrigo gave a short laugh. “Knowing Minnow, she’ll let you. If I ever find her equal, I’ll marry the hell out of her.”
Marriage?
Oh.
A ring might have been a better idea than a brand, but that wasn’t how Severin’s mind worked.
“Do you think I should marry her?”
Rodrigo hiked a shoulder. “You’d be an idiot not to.”
“But she barely knows me. I have nothing to offer her.”
The expression on Rodrigo’s face said Severin had lost his mind.
“Money isn’t everything, Ro. It’s a solitary life out here. With Church gone and Sutton dead I have no family. She’d be better off marrying you. You have just as much money and you’re way less fucked up.”
“She doesn’t seem to mind h
ow fucked up you are – and you’re far richer than I am, my friend, not that I’d have trouble providing for a family.” He pushed his hair back. “Church moving doesn’t mean he’s not your brother anymore. That’s not how it works. He hasn’t abandoned you. He calls every damned day – you just won’t talk to him.”
The girl walked back into the room then hesitated after taking stock of their expressions.
“Ah, Miss Korsgaard. Just the girl we wanted to see,” Severin said mildly.
Her face went ashen.
“Krampus has decided what you’re getting for Christmas.”
Her gaze fastened on him, as if she was afraid to look at Rodrigo. “Yes, Master?”
“A brand.”
“A brand?”
“My brand.”
She put her hand to the doorframe, as though she needed help staying upright. Her breath came in short gasps, drawing his attention to the hard buds of her pierced nipples.
“Isn’t that going to hurt a lot?”
“Yes.”
She shuddered hard, staring at Severin, her expression distressed. “O-okay.”
Rodrigo groaned, and leaned his head back against his chair, as he palmed his crotch. “You two are going to be the death of me.”
“Rodrigo is going to hold you down for me.”
She nodded, probably expecting that from them by now.
“Am I branding your ass, or the front of your thigh?”
A slim shoulder went up in a shrug. “The real Krampus wouldn’t give me a choice.”
“She wants a beating before the branding?” Rodrigo asked.
“She gets brattier the longer she wears my collar. I must be doing something wrong.”
“Too many orgasms. Put her on orgasm restriction and she’ll get respectful fast.”
“No! I’m sorry, Master. It’s just the nerves talking.” She swallowed hard and went to Severin, hovering as if she wanted comfort but didn’t want to impose by touching him.
He gestured and she knelt at his feet then pulled her closer to put her head on leg. Automatically, his hand went to her hair, petting her. She sighed and pressed her forehead to his knee.
“Do you have questions, Miss Korsgaard?”
She turned her face up to look at him, her brown eyes wide and eager to please. “When will you do it? What will it look like? Can I be drunk? Will you dress like cowboys?”
Tightening his fist in her hair so she didn’t bolt, he answered. “I’ll do it in a few minutes, as soon as the brand I made is hot. It’s the logo I put on my bikes. You can’t get drunk fast enough for it to help. I don’t think we own any cowboy costumes – I apologize for the oversight.”
“You’re doing it now? Today?” she squeaked and tried to squirm away, but his hold on her hair was too firm for her to go anywhere.
“Yes. You brought your bag, Ro?”
“Always. I’ll get it from the car.” He rose and went to fetch it, looking even more eager than Severin had anticipated.
“No! Let me go!” The girl tugged at his hands in a bid to get free. She couldn’t have been very serious about escaping, though, if she wasn’t using her safeword. “You could have given me some warning so I could brace myself.”
“I decided it would be better to surprise you so you didn’t have time to worry.”
She seemed to give that some thought. “This isn’t like piercing my nipples.” Her grimace was almost funny enough to force a smile from him. “This is completely permanent.”
“Yes.”
“What if you get tired of me? What if you decide to send me away and I spend the rest of my life with your mark on me?”
He sighed and let go of her hair in favor of pulling her up by the arms and sitting her in his lap. She seemed to be there a lot lately, but she fit there so nicely, and she was warm, and soft, and smelled good even when she was sweaty and exhausted and full of come. Right then she was still clean and feisty. It was his job to fix that.
“Do you really think I’m going to mark you then abandon you?” He kissed her hair, and she melted against him with only a small shift of his arms.
“I don’t know. We do this dance. We get closer to each other then you back off and treat me like I’m going to betray you. It’s hard for me to deal with sometimes. You keep claiming me in different ways – like you want us to be permanent, but then sometimes you act like you wish I’d go away.”
“I – want this to be permanent, but I have trouble believing you’d want to stay. Wondering when you’ll leave eats at me. I want to mark you so that even when you go, you’ll remember what we had.”
With a pensive expression she nodded. “Okay. I want that too. To have something of yours to keep after you’re finished with me.” She lifted her face to his, offering her lips. He kissed her slow and deep, until she was clinging to his shirt and sighing into his mouth.
Finished with her? Never. Maybe she’d be better off without him, but it wouldn’t be because he was finished with her.
Rodrigo came back and set out his supplies.
Severin coaxed Minnow to her feet.
“Where do you want it?” Rodrigo asked Severin, not Minnow.
“The front of her thigh so she can see it easily. It will help to remind her who she belongs to.”
“Has she had a tetanus shot in the last few years?”
Minnow nodded.
“Do you want to hold her down or do the branding?” Rodrigo asked.
“You hold her down. I’ve been practicing and I’m feeling cocky.”
A long, high-pitched whimper came from the girl. “Oh my god,” she murmured. “Why did I say yes?”
“You like it when things hurt, Minnow,” Rodrigo reminded her, his voice dripping with sadistic arousal. “You also like being a good girl for Mister Leduc.”
“Am I a good girl, Master?” she asked Severin.
“Very,” he replied. “I can’t imagine another girl letting me do this.” He draped her across the padded coffee table.
God, she was perfect, trembling, with her hand pressed to her mouth in fear. He leered down at her, drinking in her quiet terror, just as he knew he would enjoy her pain in a moment. Self-disgust rose, but he pushed the feeling away. It was so difficult to accept the way this made him feel without letting himself become appalled by his own reactions. What kind of man became aroused by the sight of his woman afraid and in pain?
Him.
Rodrigo.
Maybe it wasn’t normal, but it was how they were wired, just like Minnow was wired to receive it from them. He had to force himself to remember there were two sides to the same page. Consenting adults, and all that.
“So are we doing this now, or do you think she needs to be in a more receptive mood first?” Severin asked.
Rodrigo laughed under his breath, more vibration in the air than sound. “Oh, I think she could use a distraction.”
“Are you kidding me?” Minnow glared at Severin. He considered swatting her on the ass a few times to teach her not to glare at him like that. “Nothing you could do will distract me from this!”
“I’m betting DP would distract her.”
“I haven’t even fucked her ass yet,” Severin admitted, “So yeah, I’d imagine that would go straight past distracting to distressing.”
“How have you resisted her ass?” Rodrigo asked, incredulous. “Because man, if you want to see how it’s done first, let me volunteer my services.”
“No, I’m saving that honor for myself. No need to rush into anything when I can terrorize her with her imminent buggery week after week.”
His partner in crime slapped him on the back, but rather than making him grit his teeth, he barely minded. “You are one sadistic fuck. You’re like the fucking poster child for self-denial. The perfect dominant sadist.”
“Don’t encourage him!” the girl grumbled. Just as she was about to sit up again, Severin planted a firm hand on her chest and pushed her back down.
“Did I tell
you to get up?” he asked quietly.
She blew out a quiet breath. “No. Sorry, Master.”
He gave her a quelling look. “Remember to behave or I’ll have to punish you. Don’t cross me when I’m in this kind of mood, little girl.”
“Punish me? How?” she asked, as if she couldn’t think of anything worse than getting branded.
“Fucking her ass while I watch would be an excellent punishment – especially if you’re rough.” Rodrigo’s jesting tone did nothing to hide that he was obviously hoping Severin would do just that. “Your sore little hole will make you forget all about having white hot metal pressed into your skin.”
She whimpered, looking at Severin as though he’d save her. He wasn’t at all interested in saving her right then. He was more interested in making her cry.
“If you behave, you won’t have to find out what your punishment would be.” He wasn’t about to tell her he had no actual punishment planned. One of these days he’d have to sit down at the computer, or pick Rodrigo’s brain, and come up with a list of sensible consequences. Coming up with punishments on the spot when his brain had migrated to his dick was too much to ask.
“Should we tie her down?” he asked Rodrigo. “I wouldn’t want her to squirm at the last minute and get hurt.”
Rodrigo sucked his teeth. “It would have to be tight bondage. Have you ever done that with her?”
“Not really. Usually I just hold her down. She’s not very big”
Her gaze flashed with heat. She liked being held down, and he’d recently realized she also loved that he was so much bigger and stronger than she was. For so long he’d tried to avoid unintentionally scaring people with his size, and now with this slip of a girl it had become a desirable attribute.
“Does she get claustrophobic easily?”
“Not that I’ve noticed. We can always keep a sharp knife close by.”
“Yeah,” Rodrigo was leering at her now.
“I think Mister Leduc meant you could keep a sharp knife close by to cut the ropes in case I panic, Mr. Solis.”
“Oh...right. I knew that.”
Severin opened his bottom drawer, taking out several lengths of rope. “We’re branding her tonight. I think we can probably hold off on the knife play for now.”
Feral King (The Dominant Bastard Book 1) Page 23