Dungeon Royale (Masters and Mercenaries) (32 page)

He stood back up and almost immediately she felt the paddle on her backside.

“You don’t need to count. I’ll let you know when I’m done.” He smacked her three times, each one harder than the last.

Tears dripped from her eyes. She’d cried more in the last week than in the years before, but it was oddly satisfying. She’d learned that emotion wasn’t a flat thing. It could be multicolored, with more sides than a prism. The pain ached, flaring and causing her to bite her lip against the cries in her throat, but the tears were purifying. They were a release she’d needed for years. She’d been so numb before Damon. She’d smiled and been kind, but it was mostly because she’d been taught to do those things.

She felt it now. Her kindness flowed from an open soul and she never wanted to close it again, never wanted to go back to that place where pain was just pain, where tears were an annoyance, where she had no idea who she really was.

He’d opened her up in more ways than one. Because she was tied down, she had no choice but to endure because she wasn’t going to say her safe word. The spreader bar kept her open, leaving her pussy on display for him.

He was watching. He wanted her like this, needed her naked, and there was nothing wrong with it. He loved her body. He’d proven it over and over again.

He needed this. She needed this.

Penny relaxed and felt the pain, but also a deep peace. A floaty feeling came over her as he continued to paddle her. He struck her arse, her thighs, smacked right between her legs where her pussy felt the reverberation of the slap.

Every now and then, he slapped right on her pussy, making her gasp and squirm.

She lost track of time. Heat suffused her, making her skin feel more like a tether than flesh, holding her to the place where she floated along, holding her to Damon. Her partner. Her Master.

Her Master was so scared. She had to give him what he needed. She had to give him this. He could be so indulgent with her. He would spend hours pleasing her, making sure she was happy and satisfied. In the time she’d been his sub, he didn’t let her carry her own anything, insisting on bringing her coffee in the morning, on making sure she had the best of everything. It wasn’t hard to give him her submission in this. Their needs dovetailed beautifully.

The smacks finally stopped. She had no idea how many he’d given her as she started to come out of the pleasant place she found herself in. Her arse was on fire, but she welcomed it. It meant she’d endured. She would enjoy the ache in her cheeks even when they walked the streets of Helsinki.

He moved in front of her, his boots coming into view. When she held her head up, she could see the spanking had done something for him, too. While her pussy was aching and needy, his cock was straining against the laces of his leathers. Not for long though, as he quickly undid his pants and his cock sprang free. “This is for me. Open.”

She immediately licked at the head of his cock, tasting salt and Damon.

His hands gripped her hair, tightly but not enough to hurt. He always seemed to know exactly how to handle her. He squeezed and her scalp lit up. “Relax. I’m going to fuck your throat. You take what I give you, love. Show me you can obey when you want to.”

She gave over and suddenly found her mouth full of him. He invaded, pressing his dick in past her lips and teeth and over her willing tongue. He thrust in ruthlessly, and she had to remember to breathe.

He pressed in until she’d taken the whole of him. His grip never wavered, keeping her exactly where he wanted her. She was tied down and held for his pleasure. And it did something for her. She was slick and wet.

When he’d shoved his cock in as far as it would go, he held himself for a moment. “Fuck. You feel so damn good. You almost make me forget.”

He dragged his dick out and then forced himself back in. Over and over he fucked her mouth, his thrusts getting hurried and losing the precision she’d come to expect from him. He seemed to let himself go until finally she felt him swell against her tongue and he came. She heard him groan and curse just before he coated her tongue with his release.

She swallowed furiously, not wanting to lose a drop.

He panted above her, his hand softening on her hair. He finally pulled his cock out and straightened his leathers. “I’m going to release you now. We’re going back to the cabin, but you should understand this, Penelope. If you disobey again, even in the slightest way, I’ll have you right back here. I’ll tie you down and let every Dom in the dungeon have a go at you. Do you understand?”

Her whole body went cold as his words washed over her. He would let every man in the room…

“Penelope?”

He would? It took a moment for it to really settle in. She’d taken everything he gave her because she loved him. Because she loved what he did for her. Because she loved who she was when she was with him.

And he would give her to any man in the dungeon who wanted to take a turn?

“Penelope?” His voice hardened. “I need you to tell me you understand the punishment waiting for you if you disobey me again.”

Her safe word was right there on the tip of her tongue. She wanted to scream it at him, but she wasn’t in physical danger. No. There wasn’t a safe word in the world that could save her heart from breaking.

“Yes, Master.” She forced the words out though they were bitter on her tongue. She blinked back tears because she wasn’t going to let him see her cry. They’d felt like a healing balm only moments before. Now they would show far too much of her soul.

She’d counted on his possessiveness. She’d come to view it as his version of love. She’d been so foolish, thinking he just couldn’t say the words. It had been there in the back of her mind that she could teach him.

She shivered. God, she was naked in front of a crowd and the man she loved had just promised to allow her to be gang-banged in front of them if she didn’t follow his rules.

She shrank away from him the minute she could. When her hands and feet were free, she forced her stiff body to stand up, covering her breasts.

Damon frowned her way. “Are you all right? We should go in the back to one of the aftercare rooms. I was rough on you.”

Numbness was starting to flow through her veins, a welcome thing. She was able to stand tall. No matter what happened between her and Damon, she still had her job. “I’m fine. I would rather retire to our cabin. I would like a shower if that pleases you.”

Her words were like stones, falling from her mouth. Flat. Cold and hard.

“If you like.” Someone had passed him a robe. He held it out, but she couldn’t stand the thought of him wrapping it around her. He would hug her, like he always did, but now she knew it was a meaningless gesture.

She took the robe from his hand and quickly wrapped it around her body, grateful to not be on display a second longer. What had seemed loving a moment before now made her feel vulnerable.

Years of doubt rushed back in, blocking the progress she’d made. She stared at Damon. He really was beautiful, and she wasn’t close to his league.

What had she been thinking?

He closed his kit, zipping it up. Her collar was in his hand. “I’d like to put it back on you.”

She was safer with it on, but the idea repulsed her a bit. Would he take it off before he let another man have her? Or was it so meaningless to him that it wouldn’t matter?

She nodded, turning and holding her hair up, forcing herself to stay still while he clasped it back on.

“Are you sure you’re all right? I should look at your skin. I don’t think I raised welts. I could be wrong.” For the first time, he sounded deeply unsure of himself.

“No. I’m fine. We should get back to our friends.” The mission was important. Her feelings, his feelings or lack thereof, didn’t matter. She’d been an idiot. She’d spent more time thinking about how to continue her relationship with Damon than focusing on the reason she was here. That time was done. She would obey Damon and do her job and then walk away at the end.

He’d wanted to teach her how dangerous it was to be close to him. She’d finally learned the lesson. She couldn’t fix him. She couldn’t heal him.

“All right.” He picked up his kit and stepped off the stage, turning to hold his hand out to help her down.

Stubbornness bought her nothing. She placed her hand in his, but she’d never been further away.

Chapter Fifteen

Damon held the lift door open for Penelope when it arrived at their floor. She stepped out with a calm detachment that deeply worried him.

He’d been too rough on her. He should have stepped away and given himself a few hours to calm down. The sight of that bastard touching her had sent him into a rage.

He’d known immediately that she had disobeyed because of some mission related event, but there had been a deep disconnect between his brain and his mouth. His mouth had let his anger talk. He’d heard himself spouting shit about her finding another Dom, and he couldn’t stop himself.

“Where did Charlotte go?” His words were even and measured now. Now that it seemed to be far too late.

“She was going up to her cabin. She was going to meet us there.” She’d explained what had happened on the way up the lift, her voice flat and monotone as she told the story of how they came to have Mr. Tilman’s kit. “Mr. Taggart should be there by now.”

Whenever she started talking like a Jane Austen heroine, he knew he was in trouble.

“Penelope, do you understand why I had to punish you?” He reached out and grabbed her elbow or she would very likely have kept right on walking.

She didn’t meet his eyes. “Yes, of course. We would have been disinvited from the dungeon if you had not.”

“But you’re angry with me. Damn it all. Did I hit you too hard?”

Her eyes were as blank as any doll’s. “It’s fine, Damon. I think I just realized what you’ve wanted me to all along. This isn’t the life for me. I’ll obey you from now on. I won’t attempt to use my own brain. I’ll remember at all times that you’re in charge.”

He should be jumping with joy because apparently he’d finally gotten through to her. All it had taken was a minor paddling and she wilted.

And then he’d been stupid enough to threaten to let all the other Doms spank her, too. Lesson number one in the Dom book was to never threaten something he wouldn’t go through with. He couldn’t stand it when another man touched her. He certainly wasn’t going to allow one to spank her, but he’d been so angry with her the threat had just popped out.

Anything could have happened. She’d taken off her collar. She’d lost herself in the crowd. He had no idea what Robert Tilman was capable of. If he’d caught her trying to steal his kit, he could have quietly carried her off and slit her throat and Damon would have gone utterly insane. He’d had a vision of her, broken, dead, cold. His Penelope was always so soft and warm, and he’d seen her rigid and trapped in the horror of death.

He wouldn’t survive it. He’d known in that moment that he couldn’t live through her death, and he’d do anything to prevent it. Hence his idiotic words.

He couldn’t work with her. He couldn’t think about anything but her when she was around. Since that first moment he’d gotten a taste of her, he’d lost his bloody mind to anything except her.

“I want to look at your bum. I want to make sure I didn’t hurt you.” He thought it had gone well after he’d calmed a bit. Yes, he’d spanked her hard, but he’d tested her. He’d felt her arousal, her relaxation. He’d thought she slipped into subspace. Even through his irritation with her, he’d felt a deep satisfaction because of the trust she placed in him.

And then she shut him out.

“My bum is fine, Damon.” Her lips moved, but there was no expression on her face. That killed him. She was always so vibrant, smiling or with a mischievous light in her eyes that only he seemed to be able to see. “Could we please get some work done? I would like to know if I endured that for something.”

“Then I did hurt you.” Something didn’t add up.

Her face flushed, her blue eyes narrowing as she snarled his way. “Yes, Damon. Hitting someone with a paddle hurts. My arse hurts. It will likely hurt for several days. Are you happy now?”

He’d never seen her angry before. He was shocked to find that what he really wanted to do was get on his bloody knees and beg her forgiveness.

But if she hadn’t been able to take that scene, he’d been wrong about her. Or she was attempting to manipulate him. She’d done that before. He let himself go cold. If she didn’t want aftercare, who was he to complain? She’d disobeyed the rules. She’d put herself and their operation in danger. It wasn’t his place to apologize. “Not at all. I didn’t enjoy that scene any more than you did.”

Except he’d rather thought they had both been enjoying it. After he’d slapped her ass silly and still been able to smell the arousal coating her pussy, he’d decided to take it a step further and fuck her mouth. She’d been enthusiastic. She’d sucked him down like a starving woman.

Was she mad he hadn’t given her an orgasm? Did she think sulking would fix the problem? He hadn’t expected that from her.

“Well, the good news is you won’t have to suffer through it again.”