A small smile formed then.
“That’s not quite how it works, and for people who are a fan of impact play, those bruises are an important thing. They’re a reminder of the pleasures their Dom bestowed upon them, a badge of honour.” His smile faded then. “A bruise is a collecting of ruptured blood vessels under the skin, that’s all it is, but we are the ones who invest meaning in that. Did it come from an intensely satisfying session or from the man we were supposed to love, lashing out at us? Did we lean into the process of creating it, or was it forced upon us via abuse? The bruise isn’t the issue, Sage, it's the psychological meaning behind it that matters—good or bad, happy or harmful.”
He reached up to stroke my cheek, but I went so quiet and still, he dropped it.
“I don’t want to strike you, so if you tell me that’s off the table, I won’t miss it. That’s not…the usual way I play.”
“So what do you do? Show me that,” I demanded.
His eyes flicked up to meet Scarlet’s across the room.
“Scar will kick me in the balls for this, because she didn’t want my judgement influencing yours, but…” When his hand took mine, I felt an incredible warmth rush through me. “Come this way.”
We walked down a long corridor, where smaller spaces with open doors showed so many people at play, but it all seemed to blur together as he drew me down towards one room.
“Toby…” A man just wearing an old pair of jeans strode forward to greet us, a devilish glint in his eyes. “And who do we have here? What a sweet little confection—”
“This is Sage, Jonathon, my mate.”
Jonathon took a step back at that, but the smile didn’t seem to wane.
“She’s new.” There seemed to be two ways to take that—that I was a brand-new mate, and I was new to this world. “Her eyes are like saucers, trying to take everything in at once.”
“She’s also exclusively mine. Sage is new to the lifestyle and trying to get a feel for what she might like and dislike. We’re not playing tonight or any time soon, but…”
“You thought I might be able to show her something she might like? I’m flattered.” Jonathon walked back towards the woman who was kneeling on the floor. Her hands were bound behind her back, a blindfold wrapped around her eyes, and she sat there, lips parted. “I’m flattered you chose us. Jasmine is a pretty thing.”
Jonathon’s hand went to her head, patting her like she was a pet or something, until it went to the high ponytail at the back. He grasped it tight, and words came spilling out of her mouth in response.
“Yes, master, please. Please, please give me your—”
“Shh…little one. In time. Everything comes to good girls who wait.”
That was when I understood why he’d brought me here. I couldn’t imagine myself spinning from the ceiling or covered in candle wax, but this? Would my thighs strain with the effort of holding that position? Would I ignore it anyway, wanting to be exactly what Jonathon described—a good girl? Would Tobias heap praise on me, just as Jonathon did now? It wasn’t hard to swap Jasmine for me and Jonathon for my alpha. I dared a look up and saw those silvery eyes were capturing my every response, so that when I turned around, I experienced a strange split mental space.
I was Sage, omega, Tobias’ mate, my body shifted and cradled by his so I could watch what was going on, but with the comforting weight of his body pressed against mine. Only I was also a girl sitting on her knees, her mouth falling open as he pressed his thumb between her lips, working it back and forth, a precursor for what was to come.
“You’re gonna suck my cock, aren’t you, beautiful?”
This should’ve been weird. We were watching complete strangers—or in Tobias’ case, acquaintances—have sex. For some reason, though, it wasn’t Jonathon’s cock I saw as he undid the buttons of his fly, the popping sound making her whine in response, and it wasn’t Jasmine’s lips that it was pressed against. She tried to surge forward, to swallow him down, but his hand on her ponytail kept her exactly where he wanted her.
“He’s taken control of her” —my alpha’s voice was a low rumble in my ear— “and she gave him that control. Now he has it, he makes her wait.” Her tongue flicked out, coating the crown with saliva, and Jonathon grinned in response. “He doesn’t want to wait any more than she does, but he knows.” His grip on me tightened. “He knows what it will feel like when he finally relents, for her, for him. That by stringing out this moment, the anticipation, it will make the pleasure all the sweeter when it finally comes.”
Tobias spun me around, shielding me from the sight of Jasmine sucking Jonathon’s cock before dragging me up the hallway to stop at another doorway.
“That’s what I want to do to you, when you’re ready—make the sheer fucking bliss of touching you, of being inside you, get drawn out and drawn out until I’m not sure if it’s pleasure or pain we’re feeling.”
Inside the door was a woman kneeling on a leather bench with her legs spread, her hands tied up to a hook on the ceiling. Her Dom walked around and around her, running his fingers across her skin like he couldn’t bear to stop touching her. Some caresses were just describing the shape of her body, others, perfectly designed to draw moans from her as he teased her nipples, then her clit, but it was the look of adoration on his face that sold it to me. He was utterly, utterly transfixed by her, even as she was a gasping mess before him.
“I want to learn every secret of your body, what makes you gasp and sigh. I want to know everything about you as you’re tied up, helpless, and unable to get away. I want your slick running down your thighs as I tease you and tease you, pushing you harder and faster towards the point of no return, and then?”
The man yanked his hands away, as if that were the only way to stop from touching her, and that was when she started to beg, babbling pleas for what she wanted, needed, along with attempts to strike a bargain, arguing for it with frantic words. He stepped in and grabbed her jaw, his fingers pressing into those sensitive pulse points, but not hard, before he silenced her with a kiss, making clear how this would go.
Not until he was ready. On his schedule, not hers. I stared up at Tobias, wondering how much, how far this would go if I let this into our life, but I was able to answer my own question.
As far as I allowed.
The girl tied up, the girl kneeling at her Dom’s feet, they were there because they had chosen this, had negotiated for exactly this. The Dom couldn’t go any further than she said, because in the end…