King of Clubs (4 page)

“Ty,” she whispered, even as she was drawn to his touch, “I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

Lightly he trailed his fingers from her breasts, down her stomach to the silver shooting star at her bellybutton. He wanted to suckle her nipples then lick the path his hand had taken, but he feared to move too fast, feared upsetting her again. “You enjoy the pleasures of men, do you not?” he murmured.

She shivered as his finger circled the star. “Yes…but I never have sex with a man who wants to dominate me.”

“I will dominate you.” His hand continued past the star to the belt that cradled her hips. “With your trust and consent. Only by submitting to me will you truly heal.”

After what she’d been through with Ty—whether it had been hours or minutes—it seemed like a lifetime. She’d experienced one emotion after another: anger, fear, terror, hope, attraction, arousal, the desire to submit…and a feeling of trust that went soul-deep.

Yes, somehow she trusted him, even though she barely knew him. Hell, she’d just met him.

But she wanted him. Desperately.

At what cost, though?

“It must be your choice to submit to me.” Ty’s hand stopped at her belly, just before her mound. His face was serious and his tone solemn as his gaze held hers. “But once you make that choice, you must obey my commands without question. The only occasion you may question me is if you are frightened by what I ask of you. That is also the only time you may refuse me.”

Crap.

Yet everything in her soul was telling her to take this opportunity and run with it. To give it a shot, to see if she was a submissive inside…to see if she really did want to be dominated, but hadn’t been able to admit it out loud.

But jeez. She’d barely met the man, she reminded herself yet again. Although that hadn’t stopped her before at the BDSM clubs in San Francisco. She’d had the birth control implant in her arm so that she couldn’t get pregnant and had always kept a supply of condoms on hand. At the clubs she had taken what she wanted from men, when she wanted.

But submit to Ty?

Go for it,
her inner voice urged.
You’ll never know if you don’t try.

Everything about him made her feel special and excited. It didn’t make sense how she could feel this way with a man who had something to do with her nieces’ disappearances, a man who she’d just met, a man who had purposely taken her from her own world to his…but he had given her the choice. And even more impressive, he would have stayed in her world if she had not come with him.

Ty’s blond hair moved in the breeze that stirred grass against her cheeks and caressed her belly. She saw the golden hair on his arm move in the light wind and caught the scent of his male musk. His palm was hot through her skirt where his hand rested just above her mound.

Awai’s pussy was wet and her nipples hard and aching beneath her blouse. Her body wanted him, her mind wanted him, and her gut instinct told her he was a good man. And a gorgeous man at that. Blond, blue-eyed, built like a pro body-builder. Damn, she could jump him right this moment.

But to be dominated…

The ground was as hard as a floor beneath her as she squeezed her eyes tight.

Images of being flat on her back on a hardwood floor filled her mind. Of John Steele standing over her after he’d knocked her down.

Tears burned at the back of Awai’s eyes as she rolled away from Ty and scrambled to her feet. Pain from the memory lanced through her head, but she would not shed one more goddamn tear over that man.

I promised myself. I promised!

Her heels sank into the soft earth and grass as she moved away from Ty. She walked until she was at the highest rise of the hill, overlooking a sweep of white cherry blossoms. She looked down at the rolling terrain from the drop beneath her, to the lake beyond that. She hugged her arms tight to her chest as if that would protect her from the memories of that bastard who had brutalized her until she had finally escaped him.

Ty eased to his feet as he watched Awai walk away. A thousand heart-wounds weighted her soul, so tangible he could feel them in the very air around him.

Damnation
. He cursed himself for his stupidity again. For pushing her too hard, too fast. His instincts and senses told him she had much to overcome, yet he had barreled ahead like
harline
bull in rutting fervor.

Awai stood at the top of the hill, her back to him and rigid with defiance and pain. She was so beautiful, so proud. Ty’s soul ached for her, and he wanted to do whatever he could to make her smile again. To heal the wounds and make her happy.

With the silence and grace of his species, Ty moved up to the rise until he was so close he could feel her body heat, could sense her sadness and anger, could smell her perfume of orchids and musk. When he grasped her shoulders with his large hands, Awai tensed, then relaxed as he pulled her against his chest. He slipped his hands down her arms then around her bare waist and settled his chin on the top of her head.

“I am sorry, tigress, I should not have pushed you so soon.” He breathed in the scent of her hair, felt her shuddering sigh at his words. “Of all that you see before you, I am the ruler, my sweet. As King I never have had to ask for submission. It is simply a part of our lives, something that my people enjoy.”

“I understand.” Awai’s voice was quiet as she spoke. “I don’t like to admit to fear of any kind, but please understand that this is a part of me…to fear submitting to a man.” She gave a soul-deep sigh then continued, “Long ago I was physically abused and almost killed by my ex-husband. I swore I’d never let any man dominate me again.”

Ty stiffened at her words, rage overcoming him like a thunderstorm. How dare any man abuse a woman? And this woman, his tigress… “I will kill the bastard if he still lives,” he growled out, his words nearly a roar. “Once a path opens, you will lead me to him and I will see that he never harms another woman again.”

Awai couldn’t believe the vehemence in Ty’s statement. She turned around in his embrace, placed her palms flat against his bare chest, and tilted her head up to look at him. “John isn’t worth it. I decided long ago that I wouldn’t waste any time or energy on that man again.”

“But look what he has done to you.” Ty pressed her closer to him, his hands now at her lower back. “You fear what you desire most. He still rules your future because of his cruelty in your past. To move forward you
must
meet head-on your greatest fears.”

“Maybe that promise I made to myself, to not be controlled by any man, has lost its usefulness.” She smiled, the corner of her mouth trembling. “I think that maybe it even gives power to my ex.” She gave a soul-shuddering sigh and shook her head. “But I need time…time to let it all go.”

Ty narrowed his brows as he gave another feral growl. “Once you are healed, once you have all that you desire, I will take care of the bastard.”

Awai shivered at the intensity of Ty’s growl. “How do you do that growling thing? You don’t sound like a man…you sound like a lion, or a tiger.”

He stepped back, his hands slipping away from her waist, the warmth of his chest gone and leaving her cold. “Better now than later,” he said, his expression gentle.

Awai’s head buzzed and she felt as if she’d slipped right into an episode of an old werewolf movie as she stared at Ty—or what had been Ty. He was shifting, his mouth elongating into a muzzle, white and black hair covering his skin, a tail growing from his ass, and his arms turning into legs as he lowered to the ground and crouched on all fours. Whiskers sprouted from his face, and he gave a low roar.

She brought her hand to her chest. “You’re a tiger.”

Weretiger
, he corrected in her mind.

Awai stumbled back. “You talked—in my head!” Never mind that she was now speaking with a freaking tiger.

When in weretiger form, we have the ability to thought-speak.
He eased toward her, like a predator stalking its prey, and she took another step back. Ty stopped.
Do not move Awai
, he said, his tone urgent.

Before Awai could ask what he meant, one of her high heels slipped. She was too shocked to scream as her whole body dropped to the ground. In the next second she started to slide down the hillside.

In one bound Ty reached Awai. He snatched her by her blouse with his tiger teeth, and caught her before she fell any further down the hill.

As if she was just a child, he pulled her forward so that she was lying on the grass. For a moment Awai just stayed there, her heart pounding, blood rushing through her veins and throbbing in her head. She was so lucky that he’d caught her. That drop down the hillside could have been deadly.

The tiger lowered himself to the ground beside her and licked her cheek with his rough tongue.
I am sorry, tigress. Had I but thought—the cliff—sometimes I am impulsive. It is a fault I work daily to overcome
.

“You saved me.” Awai eased up so that she was sitting beside Ty the tiger, her heart still pounding. “Okay, so a weretiger can come in handy now and again.”

He was resting on his side, and on his belly was the pattern of a black club. She reached out and stroked it, and he purred. It was a low, rumbling purr that sent a thrill through her, making her body tingle and her clit throb.

“I’m not ready to give you an answer, Ty.” Awai slid her fingers down his belly then away from him. She clenched her hands in her lap as she said, “The dominance thing…and this.” She gestured to him. “A weretiger? I’d be submitting to and fucking a weretiger?”

His rumbling chuckle filled her thoughts and reverberated through her like a mini-orgasm.

But then he was transforming again. This time from tiger to man with the white and black hair vanishing or in some cases returning to clothing as he shifted and was in a sitting position. His long blond hair again flowed over his shoulders, his rogue’s smile teasing her as he sat close to her with one arm propped on his knee.

“I am as much a man as I am weretiger,” he murmured as he caught a tendril of her dark hair between his thumb and forefinger. “And you will most definitely be fucking this man.”

Chapter Four

After Ty helped Awai brush the dirt, grass, and leaves from her clothing, he scooped up her whip and escorted her to the palace. Unlike the Awai who took the world by storm, she felt out of her element, unsure of what to do or how to act. When they entered the walls and passed the King’s subjects within the sweeping hallways, she and Ty were met by respectful bows and curious glances.

Like Ty, the men mostly wore leather breeches, some with lace-up leather shirts and others bare-chested. The women were dressed in form-fitting robes, and it was obvious by their prominent nipples that they didn’t wear bras. Heck, Awai didn’t see any panty lines, so they probably didn’t wear underwear, either.

The bedroom he led her to was expansive and airy, and absolutely perfect. A circular bed was the centerpiece of the room, and all the furnishings were rounded and curved, and there was even a bookcase hugging one rounded wall. The wood was glossy and brown, like oak, only a much richer color. The room’s covers and furnishings mimicked the shades of the hillside. Cherry blossom white, rich greens, and deep reds. It was as if the room itself was made of spring.

Ty tossed her whip onto the bed and Awai moved to one of the huge windows that led to a balcony. The windows reminded her of her condo in San Francisco, only here there were no skyscrapers in this view. The sun peeked through blue-green clouds, the rolling hills were covered in blossoms, and the bustling village sprawled across the valley below.

She felt Ty’s presence before he spoke. “This is my Kingdom, and it will be yours as well.”

Despite the arrogance in his statement, Awai looked over her shoulder and cocked an eyebrow. “My Queendom, you mean? After all, I am the Domme.”

He gave a low chuckle that came out as a rumble. He kissed the curve of her neck, causing her to sigh. “I will teach you that submitting to me will fulfill your deepest needs and heal your heart and soul. Trust me, tigress. Let me tame you.”

Ty turned her toward him while he pulled at the neck of her blouse and revealed her shoulder. She caught her breath as he licked a path from her neck all the way down the soft skin. “What if I don’t want to be tamed?” she whispered.

He raised his head, a feral look in his blue gaze. “You will be mine, Awai. You will always be allowed to make your own choice…and you will choose to be my Queen.”

“You sure are a cocky SOB,” she said with a tilt of her head. “If I make the choice to submit to you, it’ll be just for sex and nothing more. So you might as well give up on the Queen thing.”

“We shall see, my tigress.” He smiled and in the next moment a woman came through the open doorway bearing a platter filled with food.

“Thank you, sorceress,” Ty said to the woman who set the tray on a table in the corner of the room.

“My pleasure, Majesty,” the woman murmured and gave a low bow. She was gorgeous with black hair and amber eyes, a voluptuous figure, and a form-fitting black robe.

“The sorceress Kalina will attend to your needs and your bath.” Ty caught Awai’s hand and brushed his lips across the back of it in a touch so light it caused her to shiver. “I will return on the morrow.”

* * * * *

Awai danced amongst the cherry blossoms, spinning and spinning. Blooms swirled around her in a sweetly scented whirlwind. Her soul felt truly free…finally free.

A pure white tiger joined Awai, the large cat rolling in the blooms with the same sense of joy. It was as if the cat had escaped its cage and was reveling in its newfound freedom.

Darkness swept down on them, fast and sudden.

The malevolent presence caused Awai’s heart to thunder and her blood to chill as if cold rain ran through her veins.

The white tiger spun on Awai, its eyes glowing a fierce red. The beast growled and slowly stalked toward Awai…