Breaking Free

foods she liked, like the tiny quiches and the fruit, not the crab-filled shells or the yucky brie. The realization he took the trouble to notice and please her in even this small way made her feel funny. Happy. She looked up at him as she popped a grape in her mouth.

He was watching her. As the grape filled her mouth with sweetness, his eyes crinkled, and then he returned to the men’s conversation.

After the food was gone, the Doms discussed the club for a bit: the changes Z planned to make, the new members, the next meeting of the Shadowlands masters at some restaurant. Nolan glanced down at Beth. “The subs also meet once a month. Did anyone tell you?”

“Jessica mentioned it, but I’ve never gone.” She’d never felt like a normal submissive. Not until now. “Maybe I’ll go next time.”

“I-” Kari stopped, slid a look up at her Dom. “Permission, Master?”

“Good catch, little sub.” He pulled a strand of her long hair with a smile. “Granted.”

“I just went last time with Jessica,” Kari said to Beth. “It was more fun than I’d thought.” She gave Dan an innocent look. “We talk about how horrible our Doms are and sneaky ways to get around them. Why don’t I call you that day, and we’ll all go together?”

Beth nodded enthusiastically. Two friends. She had two friends now.

Chapter Nine

After a trip to the powder room, the subs followed their Doms to Master Nolan’s dungeon near the front of the house. Stomach quivering with nerves, Beth lagged behind the others and stopped in the doorway. The dungeon was almost as big as the great room. It had shutters over the windows, a dark hardwood floor, dark paneling, and dim lighting. If Nolan had designed it to be intimidating, he’d done a good job. She hugged herself as chills goose- bumped her skin.

The ceiling beams were exposed with chains dangling from them. A St. Andrew’s cross leaned against one wall. A bondage table, a sawhorse…more equipment in a dark corner. Various toys hung on the walls: whips, floggers, paddles, canes. The big armoire probably held others.

“I’d forgotten some of what you had here,” Master Dan said, dropping his toy bag and wandering around the room followed by a wide-eyed Kari. “I’m going to have to play catch-up.”

Cullen snorted. “Isn’t possible. Just about the time you do, he’ll build himself another piece.”

Build? Venturing a few steps into the room, Beth bent to examine the closest piece, a spanking table made of solid oak. The joins were perfect, and the finish satin smooth.

Was there anything the man couldn’t do?

She realized she’d spoken aloud when Sir squeezed her shoulder and answered, “I cook badly. I can’t add without a calculator, can’t sing a note, and anything I plant dies in a week.” The gentle look in his eyes captured her gaze more effectively than any restraint.

“Got a game for us?” Cullen asked.

Master Nolan ran a finger down her face before turning to the others. “Don’t I always? The game is in two parts. First, restrain your sub and warm her up in whatever manner pleases you: flogger, paddles, hands, whips.”

Whips? Apprehension scraped like fingernails through her insides. She tried to edge away. Sir’s fingers curled around her arm, stopping her.

“After that, we’ll go out to the pool area, and our subs will serve refreshments,” Nolan continued. “I’ll explain that part when we get out there.”

She really, really didn’t like the slight smile on his face when he talked about “serving,” but the worry about what he planned to do in the dungeon was more immediate.

Dan said, “I remember the game you came up with last time. You’re an evil bastard sometimes.”

Nolan grinned.

When Dan clipped Kari’s wrists together and tugged her over to a chain, the sub looked appalled, whispering, “You wouldn’t really beat me, would you? Master?”

Dan didn’t stop.

Cullen strung Deborah up quickly. He visited the wall, returning with a paddle and dropping a cane on the floor nearby. Deborah took a deep breath, her face flushing and nipples peaking.

“Come, little rabbit.” Sir tugged on Beth’s arm, but she’d set her feet. With a laugh, he swung her over his shoulder and set her down under a dangling chain. His strength seemed frightening all of a sudden, and her mouth went dry. He hooked the chain to her wrist cuffs and winched her up until her toes barely touched.

“That is a pretty sight,” he murmured, running his hands over her breasts. His palms were warm against her cold skin. He tilted her chin up. “What is your safe word, sugar?”

“Red,” she whispered. “Can I use it now?”

“Do you think I’m going to hurt you unbearably?” he whispered back.

Yes. No. Maybe. Playing in the Shadowlands felt so much safer. This dungeon was too much like the room Kyler had set up. Too private, too dark. What if Sir kept her here after the others left? Everything inside of her shook. A frightening sound caught her attention, and she stared as Cullen slapped a paddle across Deborah’s thighs.

Sir followed her gaze, snorted, and grabbed a blindfold from the wall. “I know you’ve seen that at the Shadowlands, even had it done to you, Beth. But today, you might do better not watching everything.”

The blindfold wiped out the room. Now she heard even more clearly the smack of the paddle hitting flesh and the tiny grunts accompanying it, the creak of chains, a bitten-off cry from Kari and her Dom’s deep laugh. She could smell lingering disinfectant, and then Sir’s scent of leather and man and soap. No fancy colognes for him, he-

Something soft touched her left arm, and she jerked then relaxed at the fluffy feel. Fur. It moved down her arm, over her breasts, and zigzagged across her stomach to her bare mound. She held her breath as the fur stroked her, circling some areas quickly, then moving in gentle strokes across her buttocks. The touches were never where she anticipated, and slowly her skin roused.

She gasped as something cold circled her breast. Freezing water trickled between her breasts and down until her stomach muscles flinched from the icy feel. Her lips were wetted before the cold moved down her neck and across her collarbone.

Master Nolan’s mouth closed around her nipple. He sucked briefly, leaving the skin tight and wet. A hand squeezed her bottom and released. She received a nip on her other breast. Each brief touch left her more sensitive. When he patted her bare pussy, need shot through her in a massive wave. He sucked her other nipple, his mouth hot and wet. When he puffed air on the wet skin, her nipple peaked almost painfully. Her breasts felt swollen.

He touched her pussy again, and this time slid his fingers through her fold. “You’re wet, sugar,” he whispered. With one hand gripping her bottom, he slid a finger up into her, holding in place as she jerked at the sudden intrusion. Two thrusts and then he spread the wetness over her clit, rubbing the nub slickly with a firm finger until it hardened. Until her hips tilted into his hand.

And then Sir moved away, leaving her pussy burning. Where had he gone? She listened anxiously. What was he planning now? Her heart rate climbed.

Something hit her legs, a spatter of sensation, too soft to be painful. Another and another, moving across her body slowly, each stroke like a heartbeat with only the location changing. The tiny flicks over her breasts were erotic; more teased her pussy until her clit ached with need. The blows increased, stinging now, tiny nips that hovered on the edge of pain, transforming to carnal pleasure.

Suddenly, from the right, Deborah screamed, a high shrill cry that echoed in the room.

Beth jumped at the sound, the chains clinking above her. She tried to inhale… No air came. Her lungs pumped, but she felt like someone was squeezing her chest, keeping her from getting a breath.

She heard a thump of something. “Yellow,” she gasped through numb lips. “Yellow.”

Sir yanked the blindfold off, and the room appeared, wavering around the edge. His fingers closed around her arms.

“Easy, sugar. Look at me,” he snapped, and his unwavering gaze filled her vision. “Breathe with me. Exactly