Winter's Knight (21 page)

Shea reached for the clothonthe left, hesitated, and Lucian could see his fingers shook, but he took a deeper breath and whipped away the concealing folds. On the surface lay an array of items: a plain leather collar that closed with silver snaps, a pair of padded wrist cuffs, a set of nipple clamps that had a cruel bite that tightened when one pulled the chain linking them, a cock ring that was more decorative than functional, and a shining metal butt plug that had weight but very little width or depth. Tilting his head, Shea studied the collection. He spread his arms to gather everything into them and dumped the resultant pile onto the bench. Lucianhid a smile.
“Is my choice acceptable, my liege?” Shea asked, unable to bury a thread of anxiety that flickered through his habitualhumor.
“Entirely,” Lucian replied, slipping an arm around Shea, cupping Shea’s balls with the other hand, and reveling in the resultant arch of muscular torso. “More than ‘acceptable’, truth be told. Your decision and you are incredible.”
Shea’s shoulders lowered, relaxing, and Lucian kissed his lover once more. “So strong,” he whispered, picking up the collar without forsaking his touch on Shea. “You do me great honor.” Slowly, so as to give Shea plenty of time to see it coming, Lucian lifted the leather to Shea’s throat. Withbothhands, he wound the strip over pounding pulse and fastened it snug, his breathagainst Shea’s smoothcheek.
Shea turned his head toward Lucian, but stopped just before touching. His eyes were fixed low on Lucian’s face, and the barest of sounds loosed from Shea’s chest. “Yours,”Shea whispered.
“Oh,” Lucian moaned on a sharp inhale, and his mouth was on Shea’s, tongue plunging, without a second thought to the night, plans, or goals. “Mine,” Lucian proclaimed, diving again, pulling Shea closer, willing themto occupy the same space, and choking on a cry when Shea returned the embrace. “Beloved,” Lucian said, panting and cock aching, and he snatched the cuffs off the bench. He pulled one of Shea’s arms up, kissed the wrist and the palm as though leeching Shea’s essence from the pores, and wrapped and secured the binding.
“L-love you, too, Luke,” Shea husked, eyes riveted to what Lucian was doing, and Lucian lost the ability to reply coherently. Lucian reached for Shea’s other wrist, instead, and Shea clenched that fist. The muscles through his armand shoulder bunched and flexed. “This is... different...” he said slowly, as if seven tracks of thought trains were headed toward cliffs.
A cunning awareness in Lucian’s mind shouted in exaltation with the evidence of his effect on Shea. “For me, you have always been the exception that dictates my rule, Shea.” Lucian spoke at confessional volume. He unclasped Shea’s watch, set it out of the way, and kissed scars. “You are both the reason I take pause and the incentive to keep going. The shelter and the storm.” Lucian retrieved the cock ring, and maneuvered it behind Shea’s balls while continuing to speak above Shea’s gasping lips. “I exist as I ambecause of and for you, sweet Shea. For me, there is only you.” Lucian snapped the ringinplace, the click too loud inhis ears.
The notes of Shea’s moan and the bodily sway within Lucian’s grasp only fed the victorious fire. “Oonly...?”
“Yes, beloved. Only.”
Confusion and then recognition colored Shea’s inarticulate murmur, and Shea’s arms closed about Lucian in a way no traditionally trained submissive would dare to hold their master. Lucian massaged Shea’s scalp, and for a crazy moment, it was like he could hear the tethers and chains linking Shea to the nightmare past snap and break.
Tenderly Shea’s arms drew Lucian in close and held him, as if to protect him from all the world, and Lucian shivered for the warmth, clung to it. The naked mixture of joy, acceptance, need, hunger, and love on Shea’s face was worth hunting down every monster to see themto justice, meant more than Lucian’s life could spare. Such facts did not bring the miasma of guilt nor the weight of terror, they simply were. Always had been, always would be. Lucian made himself smile, though he couldn’t speak, vocal chords fluttering, so he laid lips to jaw, collar bone, and nipple, tasting.
“Mm,” Shea purred and stroked Lucian’s hair, and the reaction was so Shea, that Lucian wanted to weep hallelujah and rejoice on this night of redrawing boundaries.
“Feels lovely,” Lucian said, forcing focus. Shea was well on the way to exactly where Lucian wanted Shea to go: into the net of safety Lucian wove. Now he had to get and keep Shea there.
Lucian coiled the nipple clamps around one fist and bit the firming flesh currently at his mercy. Shea jerked and called a word of blasphemy, but the hand in Lucian’s hair didn’t push himaway, and the sounds that followed were ofheartfelt pleasure.
“Yes, sweet Shea,” Lucian praised, putting the metal to skin and letting it close. “Just like that,” Lucian spoke to Shea’s sternum, took the other nub between lips and into suction. Shea’s ringed cock was rigid against Lucian’s hip, tanned skin infused with a flush, and Lucian groaned as he applied the other clamp. Shea’s voice accompanied himinlower tones.
“Sh-shit... Yes.” Shea panted, adjusting to the pain, brow furrowing.
“Christ,” Lucian growled. “Perfect.” He nabbed the plug and stepped to one side. “Palms on the lounge, legs spread and straight.”
“Aye,” Shea acknowledged and moved to do as Lucian bid. His breathing grew faster as he bent, face bowed and ass in the air, to put his cuffed hands on the surface of the bench. Glancing at the mirror to the side, Shea froze for aninstant, blushingdeeply.
“I do love how you anticipate my humble commands,”Luciandeclared, kneelingbehind Shea. He dropped the plug and gripped Shea’s cheeks. “Watch, my beloved.” He caught Shea’s reflected gaze. “I wish you to see me partaking of your delightful position.” Lucian kept his eyes on Shea’s, leaned forward, and licked a long, lazyswipe over Shea’s exposed entrance.
“Nnngh!” Shea’s eyes fluttered closed, and by an effort imprinted on jaw and face, Shea opened them againwitha gasp.
Lucian circled, dipped to balls, and returned. “Mmm, I do enjoy feeding needs, beloved.” His nose pressed against tailbone, and his tongue sought depth, and, at the same time, Lucian reached between Shea’s legs, clasped Shea’s cock ina cruelfist, and pumped.
Hips bucking into the pull, hands clawing at the bench’s surface, and toes curling into the rug, Shea cried out. “Ah, fuck me. Luke... God...”
“With pleasure,” Lucian replied, thrilled when the words were steady. He dug under the lounge, retrieved a tube of lube, and nibbled Shea’s flexing ring while coating the plug with slick. Shea’s legs shook, and Lucian sucked sharp just to feel his own dick pulse when Shea’s call echoed in the room. “Though, sadly, I do not wish to skip steps on our way to sating my desire to take you ‘til you’re raw, beloved.” Lucian set the plugto Shea’s asshole and slowlypushed it home.
“Oh, Christ!” The metal sank into rosy depths, and Shea’s arms quaked, but his head and gaze never left the mirror. “Nngh... God... goingin... shit.”
“Indeed,” Lucian agreed. “Seeing you spread...” Lucian withdrew the plug and plunged it faster within Shea to a grunt of shock. Lucian forsook the toy and ran hands over Shea’s skin, caressing as though Shea’s body was lined in Braille, and Lucian had to memorize every tactile word. He licked and marked a bruise on Shea’s upper thigh, in love with the shattered breathing that accompanied the noisy suction. “On your knees, sweet Shea, at your ownpace.”
“Ah... uh... all... all right,” Shea managed, arching and stretching. “Right.” Carefully he placed one knee and then the other onto the floor. Limbs shook during transition, but Shea frowned and settled on the rug by the lounge. Immediately, Lucian was there, surrounding Shea, letting soft sounds of comfort spill and touching everywhere.
“Tonight, beloved, if you are on your knees, I am with you. If it’s pain you choose to seek, I will give it while I hold you.” Shea nodded, and Lucian petted Shea’s flank. “We arrive at your next decisionpoint, my Shea, and I wishto know how youfeel.”
“F-feel? I feel...” Shea sounded confused, but Lucian merely rested against Shea, waiting, and Shea eventually tilted toward Lucian. “I-incredible, Sire. Having these... the cuffs remind me that you can bind me as you see fit, the collar reminds me that I’myours, the acid thread ofache fromthe clamps draws a current through my cock, and...” Shea’s voice caught and trembled. “Your presence, Sire, withme instead ofover me... I... don’t have words, my liege. None that would do it justice.”
It took Lucian a beat to regain the ability of speech. “Elegantly said, beloved.” Lucian stroked Shea’s hair, rubbed Shea’s neck until Shea’s head lolled forward with a sigh. “You are where I always wish you to be: withme bydesire and choice. I’mgoingto tellyouwhat will happen next, but first I need you to angle more toward the mirror. One armonthe benchto brace.”
Shifting with a wince, Shea steadied with the arm nearest to the lounge and looked at Lucianinthe mirror. Lucian purposefully let his features form a predatory expression, pleased and greedy. Lucian licked his lips, slowly, and admired Shea’s nudity meticulously for almost a full minute. “After I’m done with the explanation, you will masturbate to my commands, beloved.”Shea’s chest heaved ina hitch, and the ringed cock twitched. Lucian pitched his voice with breathlessness that was far more honesty than artifice. “Because I want to watch your hands on your dick and balls, because I want to see how you move, again, when pleasure is calling. And the game will continue untilyoumust make your choice.”
“Choice? What choice?”Shea asked, hesitantly.
“Thank you for asking,” Lucian said, and the flickering doubts in Shea’s eyes vanished. “My last directive will be for you either to finish yourself or to stop. If you come, then I will hold you and tell you all the ways youplease me. Ifyouchoose to stop, I willdo the same, but we will keep going to the next phase of our scene. Do youunderstand these terms?”
Considering, Shea nodded. “I do, Sire.”
Lucian grunted, pressing himself against Shea and adjustinghis erectionthroughthe leather. His other hand dove over Shea’s shoulder to pick up the chain between the clamps without applying force. “Good,” Lucian said, eyes on Shea’s. He groaned into Shea’s neck, and teased himself in Shea’s full line of reflected sight. He listened to Shea breathe until Lucian couldn’t tolerate any more waiting. “Stroke yourself, long and full and with care to every place that feels best, sweet Shea.”
Gaze locked to Lucian’s form in the mirror, Shea wrapped his hand around his cock, and a soft sound spilled from his lips as he pulled on his erect shaft. Clever fingers roamed over the corona, playing with the sensitive edge, and teased the seeping slit with a gentle delvingoffingertip.
“God, Shea,” Lucian said, dancing his touch along his own shaft, forcing the fabric around it into a cruel squeeze. He fisted the chain, lifting it without pulling, and Shea’s pecs tensed in anticipation. “I want to taste you,” Lucian whispered in Shea’s ear, licking the edge. “Get two of your fingers wet and bring them to my mouth.”
Whimpering, Shea swirled over the head, slicking digits thoroughly. Dazed eyes followed his hand to Lucian’s mouth and watched avidly as, without breaking the eye contact, Lucian wrapped lips over indexand middle and sucked downto Shea’s knuckles. Shea groaned and swayed back against Lucian, who coated Shea’s fingers and let them go. “Stroke again, Shea,” Lucian rumbled in Shea’s ear. “As you would to get off in some public place, a second away frombeing caught.”
“Shit, yes,” Shea hissed, and his hand blurred into motion. Twist and tug, slide and pump, and the notes fromShea’s throat turned desperate and eager.
“Mm, Shea,” Lucian said, lining up one thigh in preparation. “But I do want you. Finish or stop, please.” Lucian tugged with rhythmic ferocity on the clamps, tightening and stretching skin, and he pushed against the plugseated inShea’s ass.
Shea cried out, bucking, and he bellowed whenthat shoved him into Lucian, who only pulled the chain harder. Shea’s whole body quaked, arched, and stiffened, and, for an instant, Lucian thought their evening might wellbe over. But just as the odd blend of remorse and relief washed through Lucian, Shea spat a curse, let go, and slapped his hand against his thigh.
“Yes,” Lucian said, matching Shea’s volume, and he dropped the chain and eased off the metal toy. He dipped to take both of Shea’s hands, laced their fingers and carefully crossed arms over Shea’s chest, avoiding clamps. “Incredible, my perfect Shea, better than I could have ever hoped.”
A tremor rocked Shea, and he gave soft plaints of frustration and need between gulps for air. “Ah... oh... dear Lord,”he murmured. “Thank... thank you...”
Lucian crooned, helping Shea to face the lounge and rest atop of it. He let his voice disengage from his brain, praising Shea’s physique, strength, abilities, and bravery. He seasoned his accolades with kisses, called Shea every affectionate name to be found in the extensive pages of Lucian’s vocabulary, and he let himself have his fill of skin, sweat, sensation. Lucian wasn’t sure all of what he said made sense, was sure some of it stuttered, but what mattered more was Shea’s give, the slowingofShea’s breathing.
“Beautiful, beloved,” Lucian said, bending over Shea and tracing both of Shea’s arms, which lay at his sides. “Let’s get youbound.”
With effort, Shea moved his wrists to the small of his back, crossing them there in plain anticipation. Lucian held Shea’s hand, and bent to grab the coil of chain that lay hidden beneath the lounge. Unfurling it, the links felland skittered across the floor ina three foot line. Shea frowned, blinking in confusion, and Lucian hummed.
“You’re on the right path as always, my brilliant knight,” Lucian explained, clasping one end of the chain to Shea’s left cuff. “But remember, as mine, you are with me.” Lucian wrapped the lengthy jangling cord around himself, hooking it through a single belt loop at the small of his back. He attached the other end of the chain to Shea’s right cuff. Shea had enough lead to put both hands on the bench, but doing so would pull Lucian close. Lucian had plenty of room to work, but he’d do so in confined quarters. Lucian hummed, pleased that he had every bit of maneuverability that he would need but had still ensured Shea would be trapped around him in a loose embrace. “For it will be to me you cling when your need overwhelms you.” Lucian dropped a kiss between jutting shoulder blades and fastened the chainto Shea’s other cuff.
“Nnngh.” Shea strangled a moan, and one bound hand closed onLucian’s hip. “Sire,”Shea rasped.