Chapter Seventeen
“Awfully sad-looking little puppy you have here, Marcus.” A big hand stroked her hair. “Looks pretty used.”
“She"ll look even worse in another minute,” Marcus said, his voice louder than normal again. “The li"l pup bit me.” His own way of helping, she realized, making sure everyone knew she was being punished.
Raoul choked on a laugh.
“I believe puppies like to lick everything in sight,” Marcus said, amusement clear in his voice. “Master Raoul, would you give her something to lick, please?”
“My pleasure,” Raoul said.
Lick? Oh God. A little stunned, she watched him open his leathers. His cock was hard, long, the same darkness as his skin, with a mushroom tip tending toward purple and a slight bend to the left. He fisted it. When she stared at him, he grinned, his teeth white in the swarthy face. “Come, Puppy, let"s see if you"re as good as I"ve heard. No biting,” he warned.
She tensed and prepared to obey. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth.
Nothing. She looked up. He waited with a patient expression. He wouldn"t push her into something she wasn"t ready for.
But Galen said the kidnapped women had participated in public sex. She needed to do this.
And…she"d asked Marcus for it. Uncertain or not, excitement bubbled inside her. A threesome. God.
At least Marcus had given her someone she liked. She remembered how patient Raoul had been in her apartment, cuddling her until she"d stopped shaking.
Okay. Here goes nothing. She carefully licked up his cock, tonguing the fat veins.
“Very good, querida,” he said softly. He pulled a condom from his pocket and sheathed himself. “Master Sam mentioned you like orange.”
She snorted a laugh as he put his cock between her lips and she tasted the citrus. These guys. He eased farther into her mouth. She started to rise up, wanting to use her hands, and heard from behind her, “Nice puppies don"t jump on people.
Stay on all fours, sugar.”
Oh, hell. Raoul set a hand behind her head and started thrusting. “Tighten your lips, Gabrielle,” he murmured, “and use your tongue.”
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She did her best, trying not to get intimidated, but… What if he shoves it down my throat? Then she noticed he still had his hand around the base of his cock. It would keep him from pushing too far, she realized. Relief filled her. I can do this.
Using her tongue and lips, she did her best to pay him back, even as excitement rose in her.
And all the time she felt the heat of Marcus"s gaze. His hands massaged her bottom, making her insides melt.
Raoul"s hand fisted in her hair.
“Ah, that"s very nice, Puppy,” he growled in a low voice.
After a bit, Marcus set something on her low back. She tried to turn, but Raoul"s grip in her hair kept her in place. The rhythm of his cock thrusting—the knowledge Marcus planned to take her from the rear—started a burning low in her belly.
Marcus ran his fingers between her legs, sliding easily in her very wet folds, and he made a satisfied, “Mmmph.” A condom wrapper rustled, then he ruthlessly separated her thighs, opening her.
She tensed and moaned around the cock in her mouth.
Marcus"s cockhead bumped against her entrance, making her jolt. Her fingers curled inside the mittens. Please.
He steadily pushed inside her. Oh God. His thick shaft stretched her swollen tissues, glided past the anal plug, tugged at the folds around her engorged *.
She"d been so excited for so long… Her mouth full, her p-ssy full, held in place at each end, and it was too, too much. Everything inside her coiled tight, tighter, and then snapped in a wholly unexpected, long, rolling orgasm.
“Bueno,” Raoul murmured.
“There"s a good li"l pup.” Marcus pushed farther into her. As he tilted her ass higher in the air, she realized it let him go deeper. Too deep.
She whined, his size uncomfortable and so, so erotic.
“Your puppy sounds a little upset,” Raoul remarked. He caressed her hair and plunged in far enough to touch the back of her throat as if to remind her she had a cock at each end.
“Let"s set her to yipping instead,” Marcus said. He felt huge inside her, filling her completely. And then he tugged on her tail, wiggling the anal plug and shocking awake the nerves in her backside. She couldn"t keep from moaning.
Raoul laughed, thrusting rhythmically into her mouth, and she accepted helplessly, wanting Marcus to do the same. “I didn"t hear a yip.”
“She will.” Marcus"s hands closed on her hips in an unyielding grip. He withdrew slightly, then thrust into her again, steadily increasing his pace. It felt good—so good to have him inside her.
She concentrated on Raoul for a bit, sucking and licking, tightening her lips around his cock. He murmured something in Spanish and increased his speed until Masters of the Shadowlands 5: Make Me, Sir
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he was pistoning into her mouth. With a low groan, he came, the jerks of his cock a kind of reward, his hand clenched in her hair somehow sexy as hell.
Marcus had given her, and he"d taken her.
When Raoul stepped back, Marcus started to thrust hard and fast. She pushed back against him, keeping his rhythm, pleased that she"d already come and could concentrate fully on him.
Marcus lifted the thing he"d set on her back, and a second later, it buzzed. A vibrator. Oh man.
Rrr-rrr-rrrrrrr, rrr-rrr-rrrrrrr sounded in surges of steadily increasing vibrations. Marcus reached around her and set the vibrator against her *.
“Aaah!” Her yelp made him chuckle, the bastard.
“Now that"s a yip,” he said to Raoul.
Gabi dropped her head as need started to burn inside her again. As her concentration fragmented, she realized it was another way Marcus took control from her. She couldn"t think, could only move as he dictated, take what he gave her.
Between Marcus"s cock and the anal plug, she felt too full. Too stretched. The vibe pulsed against her *, and the increasing waves demanded a response. Her * engorged, the skin tightening over the swelling tissues. Almost there…
But before her * hardened enough to send her over, he moved the vibe, rocking it up to press on the hood of her *, then rolling it to one side and the other. In between, he"d hammer into her, his cock a tool he used to command her submission.
She wanted to curse him. Each time she neared the peak, he put the vibrator somewhere else. Sam wasn"t the sadist, dammit; Marcus was. As he kept it up, her labia swelled, her flesh burned. Everything he did tensed her insides until she felt like an overstretched rubber band.
Each thrust buried him to the hilt, and the vibrator on her * sent electricity shooting through her veins, sizzling and burning away every thought in her head except the way he felt inside her—and the uncontrollable beginning of her climax.
She moaned, her legs shaking.
“That"s my puppy,” he drawled. She felt the vibrator move…and come to rest directly on top of her swollen, sensitive *. “Come for me now, sugar.”
“Ooooooh.” The rubber band of her climax broke with a hard snap, and then she was coming, wave after wave of exquisitely brutal pleasure. Her spasming vagina rebounded around his cock, bounced off the anal plug, and sent her into more spasms until her whole body shook. Her arms collapsed, and her weight landed on her forearms.
The vibrator dropped to the table. Before she could slide completely down in a boneless heap, Marcus closed his hands on her hips, pulling her ass upward, yanking her back onto his cock. And then he pounded into her, short hard strokes, finishing with one so deep that she felt impaled. As his cock jerked with his climax against her cervix, her body spasmed again.
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Marcus bowed his head, sucking in air, still buried inside her as the inner walls of her cunt rippled around his cock in the most intimate caress known to man.
She came more beautifully and more wholeheartedly than any woman he"d known.
He"d never felt like this before, as if when she took him inside her, she accepted all of who he was.
He"d worried that she"d never trust him again. Instead, as she fought her fears on the bar top, she"d used him as her anchor, trusting him to keep her safe. The feeling she"d roused in him with her faith in his protection had been better than any climax.
With a sigh of satisfaction, he bent to kiss up the delicate ridge of her spine, across her vulnerable nape, to the sweet curve of her shoulder. During the puppy play, knowing his presence turned her fear to excitement had left him harder than an iron bar. But watching other men touch her had created an undeniable need to take her, to mark her as his own. Territorial? Damn right.
He still gripped her hips, soft hips with a beautifully rounded ass. It jiggled as she walked, enticing a man with the urge to grab and plunge balls-deep. He uncurled his fingers. She"d have some bruises there on her fair skin, more marks to add to the pretty red handprints on her ass. He ran his hand over the redness, enjoyed the resulting wiggle and squeak…and the way her p-ssy clenched around him.
Unfortunately he couldn"t stay here forever, tempting as it was. With a feeling of loss, he pulled out, removing the anal plug at the same time, smiling at the way her back arched in response to the sudden sensations. She started to slump, and he put an arm under her waist.
“I"ll hold her for you, my friend,” Raoul said.
“Thank you.” When Marcus stepped back, Raoul swung her up into his arms, waiting patiently.
Marcus disposed of the plug and condom and fastened his slacks, then grabbed a subbie blanket from the stack near the wall. After wrapping the blanket around her, he took her from Raoul.
Her mouth was swollen and pink, her eyes glazed. Droopy dog ears flopped on her flushed cheeks. “You are so cute,” Marcus said under his breath.
Raoul grinned at him in agreement, slapped him on the shoulder, and left.
Marcus settled into a chair with the little sub against his chest. She glanced up, focused on his face for a second, then, obviously content, lay her head back down.
“Master Marcus.” Andrea stood in front of him. “Cullen said your puppy needed water, and you might too after all your hard work.”
Marcus lifted his eyebrows. “Who said?”
She flushed. “Dios, you"re fussy. Master Cullen said.”
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“Better. Open the bottles for me, please, and set one on the coffee table.”
She did and handed him the other bottle.
“Thank you, sugar, and please thank your dom for me.”
“Will do.” She grinned at him and walked quickly away before he could reprimand her again. He shook his head. Andrea was a beautiful woman, but he"d never envied Cullen her sassy mouth. And now look what he had: a little sub who outdid Andrea in brattiness without even trying. He knew damn well Gabi didn"t make up all the defiance—a hell of a lot of it was just her nature.
He kissed the top of her nose and chuckled when she frowned up at him.
“Making me crawl on the bar was a very mean punishment, Sir.”
He tried not to smile but couldn"t help it. She had the satiated look of a woman who has come and come hard, and she still found the energy to glare at him.
“It was, wasn"t it?” He nuzzled her cheek, enjoying the playful fragrances of rose and sandalwood mingling with the scent of her arousal. “How much did it bother you to have so many men touching you?”
She looked away, stiffening slightly.
“Uh-uh. Look at me, Gabi.”
Big vulnerable brown eyes met his.
“Tell me.”
“It scared me at first, but you—When you watched me, I felt safe. And I saw that you wanted me to enjoy it, and somehow then I did. Thank you.” The gratitude and warmth in her gaze made him feel as if he"d grown another foot in height.
“And with Raoul? Did you like the threesome?” He kept his tone easy, knowing if she really wanted multiple men, he"d try to manage it for her. Somehow. His jaw tightened. He"d wanted to break Raoul"s neck for touching her. My sub.
A line formed between her brows. “I like Raoul and having you both excited me, but mostly because of you. Knowing you were watching, and when you took me, all I could think about was you inside me.” She bit her lip. “I"m glad I tried it, but I"d just as soon not do it again.”
Again. She had only one more day at the club. Did she even remember? He pushed the thought away. “And playing puppy?”
She giggled. “I rather like biting and growling. Especially biting.”
Brat. “Once you got started, you seemed to enjoy yourself. We did too, watching you heat up from being petted, seeing your breasts swing and your tail swish. I do believe the entire bar cheered when you screamed a minute ago.”
Red rolled up into her already pink cheeks.
“You come beautifully, sugar, and it"s a pleasure to watch. I"m sure the doms enjoyed knowing they helped you get there.”
She opened her mouth and obviously couldn"t figure out what to say, settling for a “Now what?”
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“Now you can put your clothes back on. I"m being generous, darlin", so you"d best thank me. I"ll take myself a kiss.”
Her lips curved. “Thank you, Sir.”
He got his reward in a long, lingering kiss, one that made him remember how much fun simply kissing a woman could be. Especially this woman.
* * *
Most amusing. The spotter for the Harvest Association observed the ending of the puppy play and shook his head. The sub made an excellent dog. He diverted himself for a few minutes wondering how she"d react to pony play. To wearing a bridle and harness and a long tail attached to an oversize anal plug that would make her scream as it went in.
Perhaps pulling a cart.
He did enjoy whipping ponies to a faster speed, watching how their muscles contracted with strain and sweat poured off their naked bodies.
Glancing over at Gabrielle, the newest addition to the Association list, he smiled.
* * *
A couple of hours later, Gabi admitted she was having fun. Every dom in the place treated her like their pet now. She received a lot of “here, little puppy” calls from the doms who wanted drinks. She sassed them mildly and saved her good insults for the Masters.
Her feet hurt though, almost worse than her bottom. The trainees were all working harder. Z said Sally had gone to visit her family. That had been a rather sudden vacation, Gabi thought, but it eased her mind. Sally fit the profile of the kidnapped victims perfectly.
A thought struck her, and her eyes narrowed. Had someone whose name started with Z made sure one potential target got out of range? Oh, he damn well had; she knew it. Grinning, Gabi picked up the tray of drinks from the bar.
As Gabi checked to see if anyone needed a drink, her heart missed a beat.
Marcus stood by the St. Andrew"s cross, talking to that blonde, the one who always came on to him. His girlfriend, Celine, Sally had said, although it seemed strange that Marcus would have a lover and still screw around with other women. Then again, Gabi didn"t have much experience with people in the BDSM lifestyle. Maybe everything Marcus had done with her was just considered part of the master of the trainees job. Nothing special. Nothing to threaten a girlfriend.
The woman was beautiful, damn her, like a glowing version of Marcus, with golden blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a dark tan. Tall and slender. Jealousy seared Gabi"s veins as if they flowed with acid instead of blood.
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The woman knelt, as gracefully as a ballet dancer. Perfect manicure and pedicure, perfectly styled hair, perfect makeup. She wore what looked like a custom-fitted leather corset. So she was rich too. She and Marcus looked…right…together.
Marcus said something to the woman. She bowed her head and kissed his shoe, her golden hair spilling prettily over her back. The way she gazed at him in adoration made Gabi"s teeth clench hard.
Leave him alone, you piece of perfect. He’s mine. Gabi blinked and took a step away from the scene area. Then another.
He’s not mine. What am I thinking? And yet…she"d definitely headed herself right down that path. Not smart, Gabi. Nothing would last past this weekend. He"d agreed to work with her as his trainee. Nothing more.
Gabi bit her lip. The pull toward him felt like a riptide, impossible to escape. I want more.
The blonde picked up a flogger from the floor and held it up to him, waggling her butt in invitation. Gabi couldn"t stand it anymore. After last Saturday—with Marcus—she now knew exactly how intimate a flogging could be. I can’t watch this.
Turning her back on them, she took her tray to the bar, depression settling around her shoulders like a black cloak.
And when Cullen spoke, she sassed him so bad he tossed her on the bar top and walloped her a few times with his bare hand.
It didn"t make her feel better, but at least she wasn"t watching something that made her chest hurt.
* * *
Exasperated, Marcus frowned at the woman kneeling at his feet. Even though he hadn"t dated her in a couple of months, she still clung to him like kudzu. He"d scened with her occasionally when she"d begged—mild flogging, no sex, no real emotion. Not that she complained. She actually preferred lightweight scenes, didn"t like her boundaries pushed, didn"t want a significant connection.
I do. Even before he"d met Gabi, he"d known he needed more. And now, having made love with her and connecting with her on so many levels, he"d never settle for less.
He studied Celine for a second. She hadn"t taken his hints. Then again, she wasn"t a perceptive woman. When they"d first met, she"d delighted him with her apparent sweetness, her graceful submissiveness. Now her behavior felt cloying, for her submission was all on the surface, not soul-deep.
She wanted him to do a scene with her.
Marcus sighed. Galen and Vance had made it clear Gabi should appear uncommitted. She must play with various doms—and they"d encouraged him to do the same. Dammit.
After setting up the puppy play punishment, he"d steeled himself to watch her f*ck another man—or two men if she"d wanted the threesome. But when she"d 166
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almost panicked and never taken her eyes off him, he"d known she wouldn"t willingly have sex with someone else.
He felt the same. And yet he really should reinforce he wasn"t involved with Gabi and wouldn"t notice if she disappeared.
He couldn"t do it.
“Please do a scene with me, Master,” Celine repeated, making him grimace.
She knew full well that calling him Master rather than Master Marcus implied that he owned her, and if she thought that was an enticement, she didn"t understand him at all. Master meant commitment. To a submissive. To a woman.
And love…love would be in there too. “I"m not your master. Use my name.”
“May I give you pleasure?”
“No.” He hadn"t wanted to hurt her by being blunt, but apparently he"d made a mistake. “Celine, you"re a lovely woman, but I don"t feel about you the way I should for a girlfriend or a submissive.”
The muscles of her face tautened until her cheekbones turned white. “I"m perfect for you, Marcus. Let me show you.”
“No. I won"t scene with you again.” He paused. “Would you like me to introduce you to some doms?”
“No!” She stayed on her knees as if she expected him to change his mind. She was stubborn, he"d give her that.
“I hope you find a good master. Take care of yourself, sugar.” He walked away before she could respond. After he did a quick check of his trainees, he"d damn well get himself a drink.
Later this evening, he needed to get Gabi into a scene where she could display all her bratty talents. He chuckled…and his smile faded. He couldn"t top her again; they"d spent enough time together tonight.
As he pondered on the doms he"d trust with her, his jaw tightened. He was an idiot, getting so territorial when they hadn"t talked about being together after this weekend. Nonetheless, that"s the way he felt.
But she did need to play with someone else tonight. Maybe a lightweight flogging with nothing erotic at all.
And for his own piece of mind, he"d find her an ugly dom.
* * *
Close to two in the morning, Maganti waited patiently for his last target to show up. Soon now, since Jang had called from the off-ramp to say she"d driven past. With the Shadowlands so far into the country, Jang had to watch from a more public location.
Number four chickie. The last one. Pretty too. He smiled. Maybe he"d delay calling for the boat so he and Jang could enjoy themselves longer.
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With a sense of anticipation, he spotted her car pulling into the lot. Right on time.
Flashing lights appeared behind her, and Maganti"s jaw dropped when a cop car turned in and headed straight for the apartment building where he stood. What the f*ck?
Son of a f*cking bitch, had he been made? Sweat trickled down his face as he ghosted back through the breezeway to the rear of the building, and from there watched two cops jump out of the patrol car and race up the stairs. They pounded on a door.
A man shouted, “Go away.” Through the breezeway, Maganti saw lights blink on in the other buildings. Doors opened. The a*shole had woken up everybody in the entire f*cking apartment complex.
Maganti watched, teeth grinding together, as his target walked into the breezeway and up the steps to her apartment.
* * *
Gabi"d felt so jumpy on the drive back that she almost crashed when a cop car appeared behind her. It followed her into the parking lot, then raced past and over to her building.
It’s not here for me. Yet as she got out of the car, her skin prickled as if every little nerve ending sensed someone watching her. She knew Rhodes hung around somewhere, but somehow this felt more…ominous. Yet no one appeared. Maybe the weather"d made her jumpy. A storm system had moved in off the Gulf, and black clouds blotted out the stars. A blustery wind swayed the trees and tugged at her clothing.
She walked across the lot as the cops pounded on a door a ways down from her own apartment. Before she"d reached the building, another police car pulled up, then an ambulance. Damn.
After climbing the steps to her floor, she spotted her neighbor peeking out and asked, “What"s going on?”
The tiny white-haired woman lit up at the chance to share gossip. “Oooh, that man in 282 came home beastly drunk and beat up his girlfriend. We heard her screaming all the way down here. Clara from 280 called me, and I told her to call the police.”
Nothing to do with me. The relief made her grin. “Pretty disgusting—a man beating on a woman.” The switch marks on her bottom burned.
“I never liked the look of him anyway. I told Clara that he looked like a brute.”
Drawing her cotton robe closer against a spatter of raindrops, Mrs. Peters edged out onto the walkway to watch the brute get hauled away.
Gabi glanced over the railing. Drunk and belligerent. She hesitated, wondering if she should check on the girlfriend, then saw a policewoman enter the apartment.
So she patted Mrs. Peters on the fragile shoulder. “Have a nice rest of the night.”
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“You too, dear.”
After a quick shower, Gabi sprawled on her bed, still too awake to call it a night. As rain hit the windows in waves, she snipped off the leg of a snagged pair of panty hose and rolled it into a mouselike cat toy. She left a realistic tail on the end and tossed it onto the carpet. Two furry bodies sprang in pursuit.
Horatio won. The brown ball in his mouth drooped in a convincingly mousy manner as he growled at Hamlet and lashed his tail.
Hamlet hesitated. He licked a rough patch of fur to show he didn"t really want the mouse ball, then jumped on the bed to cozy up to Gabi.
Lying on her side, she rubbed her nose in his soft fur. When she"d walked on the beach with Marcus, she"d asked that he find good homes for her babies…if anything happened. His expression had been frightening, and then he"d yanked her into his arms and held her. But he"d promised.
“You"ll be safe, my boys, no matter what,” she murmured. “Just one more night.”
Then what?
She scritched Hamlet under the jaw, winning a purr. Then she"d go home to Miami and forget all about the Shadowlands? Marcus?
Could she? Return home, yes. Forget? Probably not.
Until the Shadowlands and Marcus, she hadn"t realized how deep her need went for more than—what did Marcus call it?—vanilla sex. After all, in the BDSM
clubs in college, she"d never really submitted.
But Marcus had shown her the fulfillment of handing over the reins and surrendering all of herself. She couldn"t give that up now, even if she had to look for it with someone else. So she"d continue to explore the scene, even when she left.
Master Z could probably recommend a safe club.
Marcus wouldn"t be her dom though. Needing something to fill the black emptiness inside, she pulled the cat on top of her stomach. He blinked at her and settled back down to snooze, ears cocked forward to listen.
“You know, Hamlet, I don"t understand him.” When Marcus had taken her home with him, she"d had so much fun. Cooking, arguing, swimming. Just talking.
The way he stepped in and out of dom mode had kept her half-aroused the entire time. On the beach, he"d been so sweet and playful…and she"d thought she meant something to him.
But she could tell from the way Celine acted that they had a relationship.
“You"re a guy,” she told Hamlet. “So tell me, how could he make love to me if he and Celine are an item?”
His eyes opened a slit as if to remind her that men were bastards.
Last night Marcus had handed her over to another dom to scene with. Not the behavior of someone who gave a damn, right? And she"d seen how well Celine suited Masters of the Shadowlands 5: Make Me, Sir
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him. So damned perfect. “They look good together, Hamlet.” Gabi sighed. “I guess I really don"t know him all that well.”
Only she did. With her disobedient, insolent behavior, she"d made him furious, and he still controlled his temper. And me. The thoughtful, generous way he made love told her a lot. So did how he argued—fairly, acknowledging when she brought up a good point—and how he listened.
She gave him the same things back. And I make him laugh. Can oh-so-sweet Celine do that?
Dammit. Tomorrow would be her last night. She"d watch, maybe ask him…somehow…if he thought…wanted… She groaned. Right. That’ll go over well; ask him a question you can’t even manage to articulate.
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