Dragging his fingers across the rim of her panties, he then trailed down each thigh. “This cunt will be mine tonight, sub. All mine to lick, fuck, and own.”
Sweat slid down her spine, and the room somersaulted around her. She blinked to hold her focus. More than how wrong Master Kyler’s touch was and how much she wanted him to stop, a harsh pain tore through her at Master Dmitri’s betrayal.
She’d grown to care about him, and maybe she’d allowed herself to believe something more existed between them. But how could he care for her if he allowed another man to touch her? With that came the realization that she’d fooled herself, he was no different than Steven, and this shattered her heart.
An unbearable agony ripped through her, reminding her of the pain the night Steven told her of his affair. With the broken pieces of her heart reopening, she didn’t find sadness anymore. Rage consumed her.
She was tired of men betraying her, fed up of being that woman who took a knife to the heart. She didn’t want Master Kyler’s hands on her body. She didn’t want Master Dmitri ever to look at her again. She wanted them all to go away, just like she wanted with Steven.
Master Kyler’s touch moved lower in a slow slide as he traced her inner thighs, so close to the sides of her panties. His fingers moved in toward the junction between her legs, closer . . . closer . . . and closer . . .
A fire stormed into her muscles, which caused them to clench and her fists to tighten. The wall in her mind crashed down, as if for the first time, she saw things clearly. A drive from within, holding intense power and conviction, ripped through her veins and she shouted, “Get your fucking hands off me! Dragon!”
Master Kyler yanked his hand away so fast. The scary edge to his features was gone, replaced by warmth, and he winked. “That a girl.” Without another word, he strode off, leaving her reeling with anger.
Her body trembled with hot fury she couldn’t possibly control, and when strong hands touched her and the woodsy scent of Dmitri filled her nostrils, she roared, “You’re an asshole.” Refusing to look at him, she jerked to get away, but the damn ropes wouldn’t allow her to escape. “Let me go, Dmitri. Right fucking now!” She had purposely left off the Master, because he didn’t deserve her respect, and she hoped it dug at him.
He caught her face in his gentle grip, forcing her to look at him. His eyebrow lifted over dark, stormy eyes. “While I’m pleased that you’re able to call someone that, I am not an asshole, love.”
“You broke my hard limits,” she shouted in his face. “You broke the trust.”
“Think, doll,” he said, cool and collected. “Did Master Kyler touch your mouth, breasts, vagina, or anus?” He paused, but she stayed too angry to speak, and he added, “My orders to him were firm. He didn’t touch any of those places. He went near them, yes. Said he wanted to touch them, yes. But he never touched you in a way he said he planned to. That is your hard limit, not a simple touch.”
She blinked, trying desperately to hang on to her rage, even if what he said was the truth. “You sat there. You watched him touch me.”
“Yes, I did.” Darkness seeped into his features, his voice taut with tension. “And I did not enjoy watching that, Presley.”
“Then why did you do it?” she yelled, pulling against the ropes, trying to break free to somehow cause him bodily harm. “You know I don’t want to be touched by other men. You betrayed me.”
“No,” he bit off, ice-cold. She froze. He leaned into her face and said with slow precision, “Steven betrayed you. He deserves the wrath I see now and that anger in your eyes. Yet you don’t offer it to him, but you will to me?”
Though she was parting her lips to offer another spate of insults, she instantly closed her mouth and processed what he’d said. With her anger dissolving, reason started to drift up and what he stated made its way into her mind. “That’s why you did this? To make me voice my anger? To use my safe word?”
“In a controlled situation, yes.” His head tilted, and he looked at her in his examining way. “Nothing happens in a scene that I haven’t put a lot of thought behind. Now I know you have the ability to respect your own thoughts, love. Earlier tonight, I wasn’t sure you did.”
He waited a moment for her to process, and he must’ve liked what he saw in her expression, since he added, “It pleases me that you told Master Kyler what was going on in your mind instead of being nice. Even that you put me in my place quite firmly.” He tipped his chin down, staring her in the eye. “How can I demand that you stand up for yourself if I have no idea whether you can do it?” Grasping her hips, he pulled her tight against him, and the rope burned at her wrists and ankles. “You’re a special woman. Perfect just as you are. Not standing up for yourself gives away a piece of your heart every time, and that is a shame.”
In his hold and with his intense stare on her and the power behind his words, emotion slammed into her chest. The wind was sucked right out of her lungs, almost as if something inside of her broke, and on a deep inhale, all the pain stored up inside of her burst wide open. Tears flooded her eyes.
Through her deep sobs, he released her from the binds and gathered her into his strong arms. Then he strode forward and sat down on the couch. That was when Presley noticed that he’d taken her away from the corner and brought her into the main part of the dungeon. He cuddled her on his lap with a tight hold, and in his arms, she cried.
She wept for all the disappointments and the times she’d swallowed the shards of her broken heart. For all those nights she’d felt alone. For all the judgment she’d turned on herself. And she didn’t stop crying until there was nothing left to cry about.
No more emotions to shed, no more pain to bare. All that remained was a placid soul in its wake, touched so deeply and affected. Forever changed in the strength and care of the man holding her as if he would never let her go.
Once her weeping melted into soft whimpers, a firm finger lifted her head, and Master Dmitri gazed at her with a softness reaching down into her soul. “Better?”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “I’m okay.”
She attempted to wipe the remnants of moisture off her face, but he brushed away the tears with his thumbs and said, “You will remind yourself of tonight and how empowered you must have felt to voice what was going on in your mind. Next time Steven or anyone who has mistreated you, talks to you, you will stand up for yourself. You deserve that, Presley.”
She sniffed. “You’re right, sir. I do.”
He sighed, long and deep, relief washing over his features. “I’m glad to hear you say that, doll.” Then his gaze darkened, and his voice firmed. “I don’t want to revisit this correction. Do not ever make me put you through a scene like that again. It does not please me to watch you struggle, or see another man’s hands on what’s mine.”
Presley paused at the hot possession in his features, though as quickly as it came, he controlled it. Before she had a chance to make sense of the shift, he skimmed his hand down her thigh. “Now open for me. This has been a shit of a night, and I want to make us both feel better.”
Widening her legs, she wanted to give him all of herself, and he deserved nothing less: a man who wanted to dominate her but who appreciated her, respected her, cherished her, and above all else, demanded that she respect herself.