Her Master's Reckoning Read online

  “Happily,” I answered, taking note of the slip in her hard expression, the momentary surprise she’d hoped to disguise. Her mask wasn’t nearly as practiced as mine.

  Sliding open my desk drawer, my knuckles brushed her collar as I grabbed a set of keys. I’d be replacing the jewelry before long, if for nothing else but to remind her to whom she belonged. Let that son of a bitch fuck her all she wanted. In the end it would be me who finished this war.

  Arm extended, I offered her the keys on an open palm. “It’s the silver one, third from the right. Smaller than the rest of them.”

  Eight steps and she would be within reaching distance. Was she brave enough to walk them? Remaining seated, I gave the illusion of safety by keeping the desk between us.

  Rebecca wasn’t a stupid woman. At least not stupid enough to run the risk of taking anything from my outstretched hand. “Toss them on the desk,” she demanded with a jerk of her chin, her voice unsure.

  I did as she requested. Smiled.

  Crossing the room on timid steps, she passed the leather chairs, mentally working out how close she’d have to come to grab the keys from my desk.

  Beautiful green, eyes that were so expressive, telling me everything I needed to know. It didn’t matter what mood struck her, like a book with flipping pages, Rebecca could run the spectrum of emotions so fast it was breathtaking. Fear to anger to need to such primal and raw satisfaction, the woman was a sadist’s dream only because she conveyed her thoughts without speaking. You felt her emotions when you looked in her eyes, and no matter how cold and dead your heart was inside your chest, she was a pulse that beat within your veins.

  Perhaps the years hadn’t only allowed her to forget her place, they’d allowed me to forget mine. I remembered in that moment of hesitation and indecision. I remembered because my body could feel her emotions at this moment in the same way she always felt me when I was watching.

  A lunge for the keys brought her wrist within reach, and faster than she’d remembered I could move, I locked my fingers around it.

  The sound of keys falling on the hard wood surface of my desk was the only sound in the room, but the beat of her pulse inside me was thunder in my head.

  “Gotcha.”

  “Aiden,” she whispered, those expressive emerald green eyes so full of delicious terror. My lips curled at the corners.

  “I apologize, Pet, but I think you’re referring to me by the wrong name.”

  The sudden tightening of a bicep, fingers clenched, a body smaller than mine sliding over polished wood as papers flew to the sides, heavy objects falling to the floor. Rebecca hardly had time to cry out in surprise as I dragged her over my desk toward me, uncaring of the mess I made in the process. Her shoulder slammed into my abdomen, my free hand catching her by a leg, spinning her and dropping her down so that her bare feet were flat against the floor.

  Having stood from my seat while pulling her across, I bent her arm behind her back, my chest pressed to the useless appendage, her body bending over the edge of my desk as my cock hardened against her ass.

  Mouth pressed to her ear, I asked, “Now, remind me what it is you’re supposed to call me.”

  Ever so slightly I shoved her bent arm higher up her back, pain forcing her teeth to clench as desire spread across her skin with a blush that she could never deny me. My Pet’s body loved being controlled, regardless of her mindset.

  “Master,” she whispered, the heat of her breath fogging the surface of my polished desk. I wanted to write my name in that path of fog, claim it as thoroughly as I was claiming her.

  Free hand moving over her hip, I pulled the button of her jeans, slid the zipper down to find the silk of her damp panties. She trembled against me, still angry, but yet so willing to be driven over an erotic cliff.

  “Five years ago, I stole you from the world. It was so easy. So simple. It didn’t take much more than a practiced smile, a few kind words, an offer of coffee, and you were mine. I told you when you woke in that dark, cold room that your body is a tool for me and me alone, a vessel built for my pleasure. Do you remember me telling you that?”

  Cheek pressed against the wood, she nodded, her lips parting as her breath continued pouring out hard and fast. I eased the jeans from her hips, let them fall down her legs to puddle at her ankles. Releasing her arm from between us, I demanded, “Hands above your head, Pet, wrists together. Do not make me force you.”

  She complied, her movement shaky.

  Reaching across my desk, I dragged a phone toward us, ripping the cord from the wall to use as makeshift rope to bind her wrists together. Her long fingers curled over the opposite edge of the desk.

  “I also told you that your mind would eventually function much like your body, that you would learn to exist solely for me, see only me. Do you remember that as well?”

  Another nod, her body flinching ever so slightly when I ripped the panties from her body, a delicate scrap of fabric falling to the floor as I slid my fingers down swollen skin dripping with insatiable need. Tears slipped from her eyes to dot the surface of my desk even as her muscles gripped the fingers I slid inside her.

  “So angry,” I crooned, lips brushing her ear, “yet, still so responsive.” There would be bruises on her hips from the edge of the wood, marks on her wrists from a cord bound too tight. I would leave other reminders before this lesson was over.

  Hand pumping slowly, I explored those muscles, my fingertips dragging across the rippling ridges and dips. “You’ll also remember that I took you from a life of privilege and choice, Pet, and that in its place I gave you a life of submission and duty. Not even your attempt at Mastering your new toy was a choice you made. I made it for you.”

  Her ass pushed against the palm of my hand, my fingertips still exploring her depths. Her eyes fluttering opened and closed, I watched as an orgasm took root inside her. Not there yet. Not her. Rebecca wasn’t silent with a release of her body; she was the type who roared.

  My voice was whisper soft, the edges of my words lined by razors. “What makes you think you have the right to demand anything of me?”

  Pulling my hand free, I slapped the side of her ass so hard the sound was a crack through the silence of the room. She yelped, more tears sliding down her cheek as my handprint bloomed into a bruise over her creamy, pale skin.

  I wanted this, wanted her, but if the carnal moan deep within her slender throat, if the movement of her bound body and the burst of heat that bloomed between shapely legs that spread so easily when tempted, were any indication of Rebecca’s mood, she wanted this, too.

  And for that reason alone I wouldn’t give it to her.

  A stark difference between us: the level of control it takes to deny even your own body’s most intimate desires.

  “Challenge me again, Pet, and I’ll string you up for days while your Courtesan starves. All you’ll have left is a corpse to ride by the time I let you down again.”

  My teeth sank into the delicate place between her shoulder and neck, not hard enough to draw blood, but only to bruise with my final mark. A fucking childish game, if ever I’d played one. Only she could reduce me to the depths of primitive and primal acts.

  Forcing myself to push away, I straightened my clothes while she cried hot fat tears over the surface of my desk. I hadn’t tied the cord that bound her wrists too tight, making it simple to remove when she wanted. As such, I didn’t bother with releasing her of the binding. Instead, I simply strolled with patient steps toward the door leading into the hall.

  Before stepping through, I paused long enough to remind her why she’d been left in such a state in the first place. “Don’t forget your keys on the way out, Rebecca. I hope your fuckboy is man enough to give you the orgasm I just denied you.”

  Her soft sobs chased me out the door, my fingers curling against my palm. Finding Anthony on my way to another wing where I could disappear for a while, I requested he keep an eye on Rebecca in order to keep her alive if Christopher proved to b
e more violent than she’d hoped for.

  CHAPTER TEN

  REBECCA

  It was worth it. The pain. The anger. The reminder that when push came to shove, Aiden would always be more powerful. It wasn’t like I’d gone in there thinking he’d simply toss me the keys. It hadn’t been my plan that he would relinquish control so easily.

  Not Aiden.

  Not a man who had spent half his lifetime perfecting iron control over himself and the world around him.

  But it had been worth it. At least that’s what I hoped.

  After Aiden left the room, it took me some time to unwind the phone cord from my wrists and pull myself together. Despite my intention to set him off, my heart still hurt to recognize how deep the canyon was that had settled between us. We used to read each other so easily, but now it seemed like we were living in two different worlds, two different realities in stark opposition.

  I didn’t want to admit to myself that the distance had occurred long ago, didn’t want to acknowledge that somehow routine had inserted itself so thoroughly in our lives that it had shredded with a thousand knives the hope a man like Aiden could change his spots.

  Laughing to think that it had been months since last he kissed me, I tried not to cry when I realized the games we now played would either repair the mess we made of each other or split us fully apart.

  It was never anything more than a game with him, that aggravating man who always managed to prove himself the Master player.

  Finally dressed, I swiped the keys from the floor on my way out of his office, my eyes catching sight of his phone where it had slid from my desk when he dragged me across. Needing one night where he didn’t have eyes on me, I slammed my heel down on the phone, shattering the screen. It wouldn’t take him long to replace, but if it gave me just one night, the risk of his anger was worth it.

  I left the room, my bare feet padding across the cold, marble floors of mazelike halls, and found Anthony waiting for me at the corner that turned into the wing leading to the dark room.

  “Has he told you to stop me?” Hating the scorn in my voice directed toward a man who had always been kind to me, I paused in place, the keys to Christopher’s shackles digging into my palm and fingers.

  No, not Christopher...

  My first task would be to learn his real name, second to discover why it wasn’t used by the man who’d previously owned him.

  “He’s asked me to watch over you,” Anthony answered, emphasizing the distinction between an order and a request.

  “So you can report back to him?”

  Sympathy filled such exquisite amber eyes. “He doesn’t need me to keep watch. You know that. He only wants to ensure that Christopher does not harm you when you release him from his bonds.”

  Stifling the traitorous tears that threatened, I blinked rapidly, turning my head so Anthony wouldn’t see them. I didn’t want to consider the truth behind those tears, didn’t want to admit to myself that Aiden wasn’t so possessive he’d charged Anthony with preventing my choice to be with another man.

  Choice.

  Aiden reminded me he’d taken that very thing, and yet here he was giving it back to me.

  “Yeah, well I assume Aiden would be upset to lose one of his favorite toys.”

  Making no attempt to argue Aiden’s intentions with me, Anthony was a quiet presence, his patience infuriating.

  “I’ll remain in the hall while you’re in the room with your Courtesan. What you do is none of my concern, but if I hear you scream, I’ll help you.”

  Intentionally setting my expression to one of cold arrogance, I met his gaze. “And what if I’m screaming for another reason?”

  He didn’t so much as blink in reaction to the question. “I’ll know the difference.”

  We walked in companionable silence toward the room, Anthony taking a position against a wall as I let myself in through the door. The cane was where I’d left it, the soft light of the room a glow across the ridges, valleys and planes of Christopher’s unmoving body.

  “What is your real name?” I asked, my hand still gripping the knob of the closed door.

  Not a muscle twitched from his neck down to his toes, but I watched with rapt attention as his lips tugged up in an amused smile. He thought he won that round by forcing me to ask the question. I had no problem letting him believe he’d won.

  “Greyson,” he answered, his voice gritty, his throat no doubt painful and dry.

  “Why does everybody think your name is Christopher?”

  Speaking so low, I could barely hear him, Greyson answered, “Because that’s what he called me.”

  “Why?”

  A shrug of his shoulders was all he gave me in response.

  Stepping forward, I let the keys jangle from my hand, the loop tucked over two fingers. “I did what I had to in order to get you out of that bed.”

  His eyes opened but didn’t seek me out.

  “Will I regret it?”

  A heavy exhalation before he answered. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think there’s only one way for you to find that out. I could tell you all day that I’ll be good, and you could beat me until I’m bloody to demand my compliance, but until these chains are off, you’ll never know what I’ll do.”

  Moving close enough that I could look down at his face and lock my eyes with his, I argued, “You were acting like an insane animal when they brought you in. How is it that you’re so normal now?”

  Greyson’s lips thinned and I suspected he was attempting to mask his true reaction. “They leave you alone when they think you’re nuts. I learned that a few months ago. Sure, you get beaten, but if pain isn’t a problem...” His voice trailed off allowing me to fill in the rest.

  “You’re an idiot. They could have killed you.”

  His head rolled over the pillow toward me, his broad shoulders shifting over the bed. “I assume you have to be afraid of death for that to be a concern.” Tracking his gaze down my body, he stared at the keys for a few seconds before meeting my stare. “Your call.”

  It would have been nice if the steel in my spine didn’t pinch so badly, but then pretending to be something you’re not is always uncomfortable. “We’re locked into this wing and a man who will help me is on the other side of the door.”

  “Your boyfriend, by chance?”

  “Mast-“ Stopping myself from correcting him I answered with a simple, “No. A friend.”

  “That’s a shame. I’m looking forward to my next conversation with the asshole you call Master.”

  “You must have a death wish.”

  “No. I just find him extremely entertaining.”

  There was no question about it: Greyson’s mind had snapped with whatever his former Master had done to him.

  “Be good,” I reminded him as I reached to unlock one of his wrist cuffs. Hating how my hands shook, I leaned over him deciding it was better to release the farthest one first rather than have his other hand free while I got so close. “I’d hate to see you injured worse than you already are.”

  He didn’t answer. As soon as the cuff slid free, I saw the deep cuts in his skin that hadn’t been there when last I’d bandaged him. In truth, they needed stitches, but I highly doubted he would behave long enough for the Society’s doctor to tend the wounds.

  Swallowing down my fear that I was doing the wrong thing by releasing him, I unlocked the second cuff, his hand moving so fast to lock over mine and pull me down to the bed that I didn’t have time to scream before he wrapped a hand over my mouth.

  “I won’t hurt you,” he whispered against my ear. “Stop fighting.”

  My body stilled against him, my heart hammering so hard and fast that I was dizzy with the rush of blood.

  Opening his hand, he directed mine in front of my face, the ugly red marks from where the phone cord had been wrapped around my wrists obvious on my skin. “Is that what you had to do to get the keys? Those marks weren’t there the last time you were in this room.”


  Tears leaked from my eyes to watch his thumb rub over them. His voice was grit against my ear. “There are other ways to Master a person than to abuse them. You’d do well to learn that lesson.”

  Greyson let me go, my body springing forward so quickly that I was clear across the room before I stopped and turned back to him. “Don’t do that to me again. I’ll scream next time.”

  He rubbed at the wounds on his own wrists. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have.”

  Eyes the color of the Caribbean lifted to mine. “Are you taking me somewhere or are we staying in here?”

  “Y-you need another bath and to use the bathroom.” My voice was shaking as badly as my hands, adrenaline surging through me with violent speed. “Your teeth need to be brushed and I’m sure you’d like to shave.”

  Exploring the stubble on his skin with his open palm, he nodded his head. “You’d actually trust me with a razor?”

  “I’ll be the one holding it.”

  His voice deepened. “You actually think I couldn’t take it away if I wanted?”

  Ignoring the shiver that ran the length of my spine, I locked my knees beneath me to keep them from knocking together. His speed. His strength. I was outmanned in every physical way. But I’d gained his trust - or his sympathy, at least - and that’s precisely where I wanted him.

  Aiden wasn’t the only person in this house capable of playing games.

  Fuck them all. I’d be whatever I had to be in order to achieve what I wanted. “I’ve been hurt enough today. And if you fight me or make me look bad because I made the decision to free you of those chains -“

  “Don’t worry about that, Princess. I already know that even if I got past you, I’m not leaving this house in one piece. And I’d rather not end up chained in another man’s basement. Especially not your boyfriend’s. His tastes are a little too kinky for me.”

  I couldn’t help my curiosity. “Will you tell me what he did to you last night?”

  “What do you think he did?” His head canted slightly to the side with the question.

  I knew Aiden better than to think he’d raped Greyson. But torture? That was more like the man I knew. “Is he the reason why you’re being this way with me?”