“Oh, you’re afraid you’re forcing her, hmm? Well what if we turn the tables?” With a flick of her wrist, Rone felt himself released from the invisible bands her will had somehow trapped him in. He fell back with a cry, his cock aching with need. Right now, though, he just wanted to get away and give Kate some space. She would never trust him again if he hurt her this way—not even if he was forced into doing it.
But the Madam of Shadows wasn’t through with them yet.
“Right—on your back, Warrior,” she snapped and Rone found that he was flat on his back with no way to rise. Well, except for his cock. Despite their situation, it stayed stubbornly erect, begging for Kate’s touch.
And unfortunately, that was what it was about to get.
“Now you, my dear,” the Madam said, turning to Kate. “Straddle him.”
“I…I don’t want to.” Kate’s voice trembled but despite her words, she threw a leg over Rone’s supine form and did as the Madam commanded.
“No, but you need to. And your mate needs you to—if the two of you are ever to be in harmony again,” Madam Shadow snapped. “Now come, my dear, don’t be shy. Get a little closer. Rub that little pussy against your warrior’s cock.”
Kate bit her lip and Rone could see the indecision in her face. Yet she came forward and lowered herself down onto him anyway, pressing the sweet, warm folds of her pussy against the hard length of his rigid shaft.
He tried to bite back a groan and couldn’t. Gods, she felt so good against him—so right. And yet this whole situation was wrong. He didn’t want Kate doing something she wasn’t ready to do—something she didn’t want to do. He didn’t want her to fear him.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered hoarsely but she shook her head.
“It’s not your fault. I’m sorry too. I don’t…don’t mean to be doing this.”
“You can’t help it,” he tried to reassure her. He was trying to hold completely still. But though the iron bands wrapped tightly around his chest and wrists, pinning his hands to his sides, his pelvis was free to move. He couldn’t help rocking his hips up in time to Kate’s strokes as she pressed against him and slid up and down the length of his shaft. Gods, he couldn’t feel the material between them at all. Having her ride him was an exquisite torture because he could feel exactly how silky and wet she was, how hot and swollen and ready.
But was she really? Or was that just the Beast inside him, insisting that Kate was ready to be taken, that she needed to be bred and claimed?
“Oh…oh,” Kate moaned softly as she continued to slide against him. Rone wondered if she was getting close—the Beast in him longed to feel her coming but he was afraid if she did, it would demand to taste her honey. His mouth watered for the taste of her, the warm, secret feminine flavor that was uniquely Kate. If she came against his cock as she had the night before, would he be able to hold back a second time? Rone wasn’t sure.
“That’s right…” The look in the Madam’s purple eyes as she watched his mate was one of greedy lust. “That’s right, my dear. You can cry and beg and say you don’t want to but I know the truth—I know how wet you are for him.” She smirked at Kate. “You are, aren’t you? Your little pussy is so wet and hot he could slip inside you right now and fill you up without a bit of trouble.”
“I…” Kate bit her lip, a blush of shame creeping into her pale cheeks. “Please,” she whispered. “Please, I…I’m not ready for this. I care for Rone but I don’t…I can’t…”
“Well, if you’re not ready to fuck yet, maybe we can try something else. Lean over your lover, my dear. Let him get you a little more ready.”
“What?” Kate looked at her with wide, fearful eyes. “I don’t…don’t understand.”
“You will.” The Madam looked at Rone. “Come now, Warrior, reach up to meet her. Why don’t you suck those sweet, ripe nipples for a little while and get your little mate ready to fuck?”
“I don’t think Kate wants me to,” Rone growled. But somehow he was leaning up and Kate was leaning over him, pressing her full, beautiful breasts to his face. He gave a low groan as he looked into Kate’s troubled green eyes. “I’m sorry, baby…so sorry,” he murmured.
“It’s…it’s all right.” Kate’s voice was breathless and her cheeks were still flushed. “I…I know you can’t help it.” She pressed one of her ripe nipples to his lips. “Go ahead…I won’t…won’t be upset with you.”
Taking her at her word, Rone drew the sweet, ripe peak between his lips and lapped at it tenderly. Gods, she tasted so good. He wanted to lick all of her—not just her breast. Wanted to give her entire, sweet body a long, leisurely tongue bath until she moaned and writhed and opened for him completely. Even though the silver material was still between his mouth and her breast, he couldn’t feel it at all. He could taste the salty-sweet flavor of her skin, could feel the tight pink peak between his lips getting even harder and more sensitive as he sucked and tongued it.
Of course, he couldn’t help remembering all the times he’d done this in the past. After he’d finally convinced her of how beautiful she was, Kate had taken great pleasure in teasing and taunting him by wearing low-cut blouses and sweaters that showed a lot of cleavage.
Sometimes they would make a game of it, with her teasing him until Rone chased her around the ship. When he caught her, he would pin her down and pull open her blouse to suck and lap her tight nipples until she moaned and writhed under him. That usually led to him tasting her elsewhere—most often with her riding his face as he lapped and sucked her sweet pussy until she came for him, long and hard…
God, he missed it! Missed it so much but he knew Kate couldn’t remember any of it, so what they were doing right now was probably making her incredibly uncomfortable.
He wished he could stop if only to make her feel better but he was powerless to do anything but lick and suck her nipples until the Madam of Shadows released him from this particular compulsion. It wasn’t just that the invisible iron bands were holding him down, it was as though she was actually controlling his body, making him do exactly what she wanted even though he didn’t want to do it.
At last, however, the Madam seemed to tire of this particular activity.
“Enough.” She gestured at Rone who was finally able to release Kate’s nipple from his mouth and lean his head back.
“Are…are you going to let us go now?” Kate was panting, her cheeks still flushed.
“Hardly.” The Madam laughed evilly. “We must restore your harmony. And we must satiate the Shadow before we let you leave Flame and Frost.”
“Satiate the Shadow? What in the Seven Hells does that mean?” Rone demanded.
“It means that no one who enters the Shadow as the two of you have done may leave without offering a sacrifice of either pleasure or pain.” Her lip twisted in a sneer. “Most choose pleasure but a few enjoy the finer aspects of physical pain.”
“We don’t,” Kate said quickly. “So what do we have to do to get out of here?”
“Fuck your mate,” Madam Shadow said bluntly. “That should cover the pleasure sacrifice nicely.”
“No,” Rone said harshly. “Kate will never forgive me if I force myself on her—even if you’re making me to do it. You think you’re pushing us together? If you make us do that—make us make love before my mate is ready—you’ll drive a wedge between us we’ll never be able to overcome.”
“Hmm…” The Madam of Shadows didn’t look pleased but Rone thought she was at least beginning to believe him. All it took was one look at Kate’s pale face to know he was telling the truth. “All right, then,” she said at last. “Something different. I know…” She snapped her fingers. “You, my dear,” she said to Kate. “Come further up your mate’s body until you’re straddling his face.”
“What? Why?” Kate asked in a shaking voice even as she was assuming the position the Madam had demanded. Rone knew she couldn’t do anything else—she was under the same compulsion he was—caught in the Madam’s power.
Looking up, he could see that the silver material covering Kate’s tender pussy was just inches from his face. He could smell her sweet, feminine scent, could almost taste her rich honey…Gods, how he wanted to taste her! But he could tell Kate didn’t want him to. She was trembling visibly above him, almost as if she was straining to get away. But she was trapped.
“Very nice,” Madam Shadow purred. “Now, Kate, my dear—just lower yourself down until you feel your warrior’s mouth against your pussy.”
Kate’s face went red, then white and she began to shake in earnest. Obviously she was somehow resisting the compulsion to do as the Madam ordered though Rone had no idea how she was managing it. “Please,” she whispered. “Please, I…I can’t.”
“Of course you can. You’re joined to a Wulven Kindred, aren’t you?” the Madam demanded impatiently. “One cannot be bonded to that kind of male without learning to spread for his tongue on a regular basis.”
“I…I don’t want to.” Kate’s voice was a low cry of anguish that tore at Rone’s heart.
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he growled at the Madam. “This is dangerous. If you know anything about my kind, you know what I carry inside me. Taunting it in this way is the quickest way to release it—especially when I am already having difficulty holding it back.”
“Yes…I imagine after months of unrequited hunger, your Beast must be close to the surface,” Madam Shadow mused.
“It fucking well is,” Rone snarled. “And you may be able to hold me down with the force of your will in this form but I doubt you’ll have a chance of controlling my Beast if it comes out.”
Kate was watching their exchange with wide eyes and he could see the fear on her face.
“Please—can’t you just let us go?” she asked the Madam in a low, trembling voice. Her thighs were shaking now, her small body vibrating with the effort to disobey the Madam’s direct order.
The Madam frowned. “I have told you, one cannot leave the Shadow without a sacrifice of either pain or pleasure.”
“Then I chose pain,” Kate said instantly. “Go ahead—punish me or do whatever it is you have to do. Just let us go afterwards.”
“Kate, no!” Rone protested, looking up at her. “Baby—”
“I can’t.” She looked down at him with tears in her eyes. “I can’t do this. Not like this. Not now. I’m sorry, Rone but…I’d rather have the pain.”
“Maybe you should ask what the ‘pain’ is before you so rashly consent to let me punish you,” Madam Shadow hissed. Then she shimmered and seemed to change form. To Rone’s surprise, it was suddenly Mistress Light standing before them.
“Mistress Light?” Kate asked in a shocked voice. “What…what are you doing here?”
“I am but the other aspect of Madam Shadow,” the Mistress replied. Her white hair and gown radiated purity and light and her purple eyes, so like the Madam of Shadow’s, glowed with sympathy and sincerity.
“So…you’re the same person?” he asked, frowning.
“I am.” The glowing being nodded. “For my people are able to divide themselves into their most basic parts. I am all that is good and sweet while my other half—my dark sister as I think of her—is all that is cruel and harsh.”
“Thank God you came then,” Kate whispered, her brimming eyes overflowing. “Please, let us go. We need to get back to our ship and get out of here.”
“Yes, those that choose the Shadow often feel the need to leave before their treatment is complete.” Mistress Light shook her head. “It is most distressing.”
“What’s distressing is the things your ‘other half’ has been forcing us to do against our will,” Rone growled. “Now let us out of here!”
“I am afraid I cannot—not until a sacrifice is made to the Shadow.” The Mistress sighed sorrowfully. “And consider, my dears—you are so close to reconciling. My dark sister may be cruel, but she is also quite adept at reading the needs of our clients. The two of you must come together—until you do, your harmony cannot be restored.”
“That may be true,” Kate said in a shaky voice. “But you can’t force us to have sex and expect it to fix everything. I know that Rone loves and remembers me but I still feel like I’m just getting to know him. I don’t…I’m not ready for this. Not now. I just…I just want to go home.” Her eyes brimmed again and she blinked away the tears.
Rone felt his heart swell. He wanted so badly to protect her, to cradle and shield her from anything that might hurt her, either emotionally or physically. And knowing that he might be the instrument of her harm—if the crazy Mistress of Light and Madam of Shadows had anything to say about it—nearly made him insane with anger and frustration.
“Let us go now,” he growled at Mistress Light. “We’ll find our own way to each other. One that doesn’t involve having me force myself on the only female I’ve ever loved.”
“Very well, then. But know this, Warrior…” The Mistress pointed her finger at him. “You are running out of time. I know our methods here have seemed heavy-handed but it is only because we sense the time-bomb that you carry within you.”
“Heavy-handed?” Kate gave an angry little laugh that was more than half sob. “Is that what you call it when you force us into highly sexual situations against our will? Or when you start speaking into my mind to try and make me to do things I’m not ready to do?”
Mistress Light frowned. “Well, I cannot deny your first accusation but as for the second, no one here has the power to speak directly into the mind of another. So I am afraid I don’t know what you are talking about, my dear.”
“Yeah, right.” Clearly Kate didn’t believe her. Honestly, neither did Rone—the proprietors of Flame and Frost had been manipulating them from the first. At this point, he didn’t know what to believe any more. He just wanted to get out of here and take some time to calm his Beast before it erupted from him and caused a scene of unspeakable carnage and lust.
Mistress Light shrugged, her white robes rippling with the movement.
“Believe what you will. But if you wish to leave, you still must pay the price.”
“Fine, I’ll pay it. Just let me go,” Kate said, glaring at her. “Let me go now.”
“As you wish.” Mistress Light shimmered and Madam Shadow took her place. “Well, I see that my simpering, do-gooder sister could make no headway with you,” she sneered. “Still determined to leave, are you?”
“Yes, we are.” Kate lifted her chin defiantly. “And I’m ready to pay the price—whatever it is.”
“Kate—” Rone didn’t like her making such rash promises. But it was too late—the Madam of Shadows was already crooking a finger at his mate.
“Very well, little female. Then come here and take your punishment.”
“Kate!” he said again, his concern growing but Kate was already rising and walking towards the evil Madam who was smiling cruelly. Rone tried to follow but he was still restrained by the invisible bands. No matter how he fought them, he couldn’t move from his supine position on the floor. All he could do was watch.
“What…what are you going to do to me?” Kate asked in a voice that trembled only a little.
“Why, cane you, of course. Why do you think I brought my best cane with me today?” The Madam tapped the long, narrow black cane into her palm, with an ominous slapping sound. “I had a feeling I might have a use for it.”
“What? No!” Rone struggled harder with the bands. He had an idea he might be able to snap them—but only if he allowed his Beast to come out and lend him its strength. He couldn’t risk that—it was the very thing he’d been trying to avoid all this time. “Leave Kate alone,” he growled at the Madam. “You want to cane somebody, you can cane me.”
“Ah, what a sweet and touching offer.” The Madam of Shadows mimed wiping a tear from her purple eyes, which were lined in thick black makeup. “But I am afraid that will not satisfy the Shadow. You see, it chose your sweet little Kate when she came to us—you, my dear warri
or, were chosen by the Light. You may have come into the Shadow to be with your mate but she is the one it truly wants—and the only one whose pain can satisfy its hunger.”
“No!” Rone struggled harder. “No—don’t you fucking touch her!”
“Oh, I’ll do more than touch her, Warrior. I’ll cane her until she bleeds.” She gave him another evil smile. “And then, of course, the two of you will be free to go.”
“Do you swear that?” Kate asked, her voice shaking. “You swear that the minute you finish…finish caning me, Rone and I are free to go back to our ship and leave?”
“I swear. Also, it’s in your contract. You know—the one you signed without reading the fine print?” Madam Shadow smirked at her.
“All right then.” There was a grim determination in Kate’s green eyes. “Do it. Just get it over with quickly is all I ask.”
“Very well. Turn and placed your hands against the wall,” the Madam directed.
“Kate—Lalli—no! You can’t let her do this!” Rone thrashed against his invisible bonds but Kate was already turning around and bracing her hands against the wall. Before he could protest further, the Madam of Shadows grabbed the back of Kate’s shirt in one black-taloned claw and ripped it neatly down the middle.
Kate gasped and shivered as her bare back was revealed. Rone looked at the familiar white scars from her past surgeries with a sinking feeling in his chest. How often had he kissed Kate there? How often had he traced the lines of scar tissue to ease her pain with the healing warmth of his tongue? The twisted scars made the pale skin of her back seem even more delicate and frail. They made him long to caress her and take away her pain. And now this evil bitch was planning to make it worse.
“Don’t hit her there!” he snarled, still writhing against the invisible bonds. “Can’t you see she’s been wounded in the past? Her scars already give her pain—if you add to the trauma…”
“I’ll cane her where I see fit,” the Madam snapped back. To prove her point, she drew back her arm and let the cane fall against Kate’s bird-like shoulder blades.