“Keep going, malen’koye plamya. I need to know everything that was said.”
She hated this. Hated to tell him. She already felt so vulnerable. Not because she was wrapped naked in the ropes—the ropes comforted her. She had no idea why they did. There was every possibility that Sevastyan knew being in the ropes comforted her. She felt vulnerable because she already wanted to be his. She felt too much for him. Too many weeks had gone by while she fantasized about him and now that she’d been with him, she wanted to belong to him. This wasn’t all about sex. The things that were said had crushed her.
“They said you told Mitya that you needed a submissive, any submissive would do and you just had to find a female on her first life cycle.”
She kept her gaze fixed on his face, but it was impossible to tell from his expressionless mask what he was thinking. Flamme had chosen Shturm because he could protect them. The little female leopard was on her first life cycle and had been so afraid of Franco Matherson that she was desperate to find a male leopard who would stop him. Flambé had fantasized about Sevastyan for months. When the two had come together, Flamme had risen, taking charge, choosing her mate because it made sense to her.
“They said Mitya pointed out that you’d found exactly what you were looking for in me, a woman you could do anything you wanted to because I was so hot for sex with you I’d do anything for you. I was just the right kind of woman because all I wanted was to be fucked any way you wanted to fuck me. I was a toy for you and I’d let you manipulate me, and they’re right, aren’t they? Aren’t they, Sevastyan?”
She struggled not to cry. She wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction. She was tougher than that. They were so right about her. She was hanging in his ropes, desperate for him to fuck her. Nearly begging him to. Humiliating herself by telling him what those men had said—what they all thought of her in his cousin’s home.
“I want to know every single thing they said, Flambé, and then I’ll address it point by point. I can see overhearing this conversation really hurt you and I wish that you had come to me immediately, although I can understand why you didn’t. Please continue.”
She was grateful that he didn’t portray any emotion. His expression didn’t change. His voice didn’t change and that gave her the courage to keep going.
“They said you don’t give a damn about women. About anyone other than your cousins and maybe their wives, but they doubted that. In your families, most of the women are killed after they provide their husbands with sons.”
His expression remained the same, that mask was in place. He didn’t flinch or look as if anyone was saying anything that was crazy.
“They said that you killed the men watching us at your house. You went out and hunted them down and you killed them, just like you had to have killed the ones following us when we were on our way to see Brent Shriver.”
“That’s it? That’s everything?”
“Only that you told Mitya it was difficult to find a true submissive, especially one your leopard didn’t want to rip to shreds, and I was
a true submissive and Shturm was enamoured with Flamme.”
He nodded. “First, Mitya and I did have a discussion some time ago, before I ever met you, that I couldn’t hope to find a woman who would suit my particular needs. My cousin is considered rather dark and very sexually demanding. I am much darker and more demanding. Both of us know this and he was worried about me. It was unfortunate that we had the discussion within the hearing of men we trusted.”
He reached for the bottle of water again and held it to her lips. “Drink. Do you need to come out of the ropes? Or do you want to continue with the discussion in them?”
She wanted to stay bound. She felt safer. Comforted. “I’m good.”
“He knows Shturm is a killer and that it was dangerous for me to go to the club, but it was my only outlet. I was careful, but that solution wasn’t going to last forever. As for manipulating you, I suppose I can and will sexually, just like tonight, but you could have said no at any point. Those men are selling you short. When it comes to our sexual relationship, we both, fortunately, enjoy the same thing. Outside of that, we are going to have to work things out. Manipulation is not going to work on you in our day-to-day life.”
Flambé knew that much was true. He couldn’t manipulate her outside of the bedroom.
“As for doing whatever I want with someone like you, you love the ropes the way I do, so yes, I can do whatever I want and I don’t have to worry that you’ll find the things I want or need repulsive. You made that very clear to me, although whoever was gossiping has no idea what they were talking about because they were making shit up. As for being my toy, you aren’t anyone’s toy. You’re my woman and we’re partners sexually. You have the right to say what you want or don’t want and I’ll respect that.”
He stepped close to her and cupped her face gently in his hands. “Do I give a damn about most women? No. I love my cousins’ wives. I am already falling for you and know that it isn’t going to take much to just keep going in all the way. Do I think that’s a good thing? No. I don’t. Like I said, I’m much darker than Mitya, and I’ve got things inside me that sometimes escape. They aren’t always good. You’re capable of unleashing those things.”
He stepped away from her again and went back to wherever it was he put the water and camera. He moved around her, taking several closeups of the ruby clamps. “Your life with me isn’t going to be easy, Flambé, and I’m not going to pretend it will be, although I will always try to give you everything you want when I can. I’ll care for you with everything in me. You’ll have that. So that bullshit about not caring for you is just that—bullshit. I know you and your leopard can hear the truth.”
She could. The relief was so tremendous she wanted to cry. At the same time, she had been around so many male shifters who were so good at deceiving their mates that a part of her, that hurt part, filed the things those men said away in her head.
“I told you about the lair we came from. The women were murdered after they gave birth to sons. My own mother was murdered. Most times, the sons were expected to participate. I refused. Mitya refused. Gorya, Fyodor and Timur refused. We were forced to leave and all of us have a price on our heads. Again, I shared this with you. Maybe not the details because I don’t want you to have nightmares, but we got out.”
He suddenly looked directly at her again. “As for hunting the men Matherson had on my property, men he was using to try to kidnap you, damn straight I hunted them and I killed them. I sent him a message loud and clear that he wasn’t going to hurt you in any way. He went after you again and I sent him the same message. Mitya added an exclamation point by joining me. I don’t think he got exactly who he was messing with at first.”
He took several more photographs, put down the camera and then lowered her until her breasts were level with his mouth. “You have to be getting tired.” Very quickly he unscrewed the clamp on her right breast and as it dropped into his hand and the blood rushed painfully back, his mouth covered her nipple with soothing heat. He did the same to the left. All the while he tugged and played the rope like the artist he was so that it sang along her nerve endings, bringing them to vivid life.
“Sevastyan.” His name came out a plea. Almost a sob.
He quickly shoved the knots aside as he lowered his trousers and, digging his hands into her hips, slammed his cock into her inflamed, slick sheath. The aggressive thrust drove her bottom against the cross so that the thick knot tangled deep in the bundle of sensitive nerve endings. She cried out as flames seemed to lick at her body from the inside out.
He moved in her over and over, relentlessly, feeding the fire until it engulfed her, rushing over her so strongly there wasn’t one cell in her body that didn’t feel compromised, that didn’t feel the contractions in some powerful way.
He continued surging into her harder and deeper, rocking her body, when the solid boards behind her refused to allow any give to them. The position he had her tied had her wide open to him, completely allowing him to drive into her, angling his body to keep his cock positioned perfectly to cause the most friction over her inflamed clit, over her most sensitive spot where her sheath clamped so tightly down on him and grasped and milked at him greedily. Then she felt him erupting like pure fire, coating the walls of her sheath with molten seed, rope after rope triggering more violent shocks until she was hanging in the ropes, unable to keep her head up. Unable to think or breathe properly.