Chapter 6 Rowan #3
Each grain of rice felt like a tiny blade stabbing into my skin. My muscles trembled as I fought to stay upright, shifting slightly to find relief. But the grains were everywhere. My pain tolerance faltered, and before I could stop it, a small whimper escaped my lips.
I heard a door open in the distance, and Killian emerged from his bedroom.
He looked flustered, carrying a gym bag and dressed in athletic clothes, likely on his way to the fitness center.
From the way his shoulders and jaw tensed, it was obvious he could hear what was happening and was desperate to get away from it.
“Where are you going? Do you want to join us? Rowan’s about to show us just how sorry she is,” Cade said aloud before signing something to him I didn’t catch.
Killian rounded the couch, stopping in front of me and staring down at my kneeling form with an unreadable expression. I looked up at him, missing the sight of that scar and those icy blue eyes always hidden behind shaggy black hair. I missed everything about him.
“Please, I’m sorry,” I mouthed silently, knowing he could read my lips. I wanted my apology to be just for him.
He continued to look down at me as if deciding what to do. His hand lifted toward my face, and I closed my eyes, leaning forward to meet his touch. A sigh escaped me, full of relief and hope, because he was finally responding, finally seeing me again.
But his hand never met my skin.
My eyes snapped open at the sound of the front door slamming shut.
Killian was gone.
There was something so intimate, so vulnerable about asking for his forgiveness like this, bare and submissive.
That he had slammed the door on me, refusing both my apology and my touch, stung so deeply that the rice no longer hurt.
All the pain in my body gathered in my chest, sharp and consuming, as if my heart were breaking under the weight of his rejection.
I felt tears well in my eyes.
Cade, taking pity on me and realizing I had emotionally and physically reached the edge of what I could take, switched off the game.
“He'll come around; give him time. Can you stand up, Rowan?” he asked, finally turning his attention back to me.
I tried, but my legs had gone completely numb. The moment I attempted to stand, I stumbled. Ryker hurried to me and caught me quickly, slipping his hands under my arms to support me.
His breath brushed my ear as he whispered, “You looked so beautiful kneeling there. You did so fucking good, Kitten.”
His lips trailed soft kisses along my neck, finding the tender spot he knew I couldn’t resist as he guided me to the couch and sat down. His strong arms pulled me face-down across his thighs.
I knew what was coming next, and it helped distract me from my encounter with Killian. My emotions shifted from sorrow to nervous anticipation.
“Cade, I thought my punishment was over. I did what you said, and it really hurt. I’m sorry. Please.”
“We’re not even close to done yet, Rowan. That was only the beginning. You said you wanted to be good for us.”
“I do,” I said quietly, resigning myself to the spanking I knew was about to happen.
Ryker’s palm grounded me and moved in slow circles across my ass cheek with a tenderness I knew wouldn't last long. Then Cade nodded to him.
“Count them,” Ryker said as his hand came down sharply, the impact stinging as it met my skin.
"One," I breathed in barely a whisper.
I tried to hold myself together and quietly take my punishment with as much composure as I could summon, but with each strike the pain intensified. By the sixth, tears blurred my vision, and by the fifteenth, I couldn’t stop the sobs that tore from my throat.
“That’s enough,” Cade barked.
Ryker moved me off his lap, helping me to sit upright on the couch. When my tender ass contacted the leather cushion, I winced.
While Talon was the only one who had access to my thoughts through our shifter bond, Cade had an innate, instinctual ability to sense what my body and mind needed.
He always knew when I needed more and when I had reached the end of what I could take.
It allowed me to relinquish control to him, to trust that he would know exactly how to handle me.
Talon slipped behind me, sitting on the couch so he was straddling my ass and untied my wrists.
He adjusted the rope, looping it around my torso again and securing it neatly at my back.
My arms were finally free. I stretched them gratefully, the ache in my shoulders easing after being restrained for so long.
Ryker moved between my legs, kneeling on the floor and spreading my thighs wide.
He slid my underwear off, and I tried to stay still and open despite feeling so exposed and self-conscious.
They looked at each other, nodding in silent agreement.
About what, I wasn’t sure, but Ryker then dove in, licking and sucking at my core with a fervent need.
The pure pleasure after enduring so much discomfort only made the sensations more intense.
My fingers speared through Ryker's hair, my head rolled back against Talon’s chest, and I didn’t bother trying to stifle the sounds that escaped me, letting every moan, groan, and whimper pour freely from my lips.
As my orgasm built, I ground myself against Ryker’s face, trying to find more friction. I lost myself in Talon’s touch as he lightly pinched my nipples and tugged on my hair.
Behind me, Talon said, “Ryker,” and suddenly Ryker stopped abruptly, just as Talon pinched my nipples harshly, twisting them with a stinging pain and pulling my hair sharply. The pain was so sudden, and the loss of pleasure so abrupt, that my orgasm withered and died before it could bloom.
I looked between them in confusion, brows knitted and eyes wide, until Ryker’s chuckle and sharp grin told me what I needed to know. My shoulders sank in disappointment, and I groaned in frustration, looking at Cade pleadingly.
“Please,” I begged, needing release so badly that my clit pulsed in anticipation.
“Not yet, Rowan. Not until we know you’re truly sorry,” Cade said sternly.
“I’m sorry, Cade. I’m so sorry. Please!” I said, unashamed to beg him at this point.
“No,” he said, shaking his head and motioning for Ryker to continue.
And then the cycle began again.
Ryker would lick and suck, building my orgasm to the brink before Talon, sensing through the shifter bond that I was about to climax, would tell him to stop and deliver sharp pain to my body to extinguish the fire they had ignited.
Over and over.
I whimpered, whined, begged, and every time Cade would shake his head, denying me release. Of all the stages of my punishment, this was the worst. The disappointment, the inability to climax, and the throbbing pulse of my body’s need were unbearable.
I started begging them to let me orgasm. When they refused, I pleaded with them to fuck me and knot me. I was desperate.
"Please fuck me, Talon! I'll do anything! I need you. All I can think of is how much I need your knot!"
"Since you beg so nicely, I'll oblige you with my cock, Pet. But no knot. This is a punishment, and bad omegas don't deserve knots."
Talon laid me flat on my stomach on the couch.
He lined himself up with my entrance and surged forward, rutting into me harshly, just as I'd come to anticipate from him.
I thought surely he would allow me to orgasm now, relishing the feeling of being stretched and filled at last. But no.
Talon moved hard and fast, finishing inside me before I had the chance to find my release.
Then Cade stood, exchanged places with Talon, and did the same.
When Ryker finally stood to take his turn, I was beyond need. The want was unbearable. My body burned with it. Each touch, each command, each pause left me trembling, desperate for something I couldn’t even name anymore.
The need had become something else entirely. It wasn't just physical, but emotional, almost spiritual. I wanted release, but more than that, I wanted permission. I wanted to prove I was sorry, for them to forgive me, to earn back their trust, and to be seen again as theirs.
"Do you want to cum, Kitten?" Ryker asked as he knelt behind me.
I couldn’t answer at first. The sound that left me was somewhere between a sob and a plea. My body was trembling, torn between fear and longing, between what I thought I could handle and what they might still demand. All I could manage was to nod my head up and down.
"Okay, okay, I'll make you cum, but only if you let me play with your ass."
"Absolutely not. No!" I said, scrambling to my knees and turning to face him.
"Then you're not going to orgasm, Rowan," Cade said with a shrug as he zipped his fatigues. "It's up to you."
I glared at them, then sighed and threw my head back in frustration.
"I won’t fuck you there yet! Just let me play a little. If you say yes, you can cum as much as you want. I promise you'll like it. I bet you'll orgasm even harder than you normally do," Ryker tried to convince me.
He pulled me against him, kissing my favorite spot along my neck, and trailing his hand down my body.
I was so angry and frustrated, but my treacherous body didn't seem to get the memo, melting under his touch.
"Please say yes, Kitten," his voice whispered into my ear as his hands stalled, waiting for my response.
"Please, Rowan," he said again, in the most sincere tone I'd ever heard him use.
The way he said please was like a prayer. He begged, setting aside his pride, and actually begged. Had I ever heard any of them beg me before?
Despite Ryker being single-handedly to blame for my current situation, he had always been the one who made things easier.
He could make me laugh when I wanted to cry, tease me until I forgot why I was angry, and somehow turn the tension in my chest into something lighter.
Around him, everything felt a little less heavy and easier to bear.
Even though he was annoying, insufferable, crude, and downright obnoxious, I couldn't help the affection l felt for him.
His steady humor and easy nature, the warmth of his open affection, and the teasing levity he brought into every tense moment gave me something only he could.
He fulfilled something in me, just as the others did in their own ways.
Ryker had been the first one to make my heart skip a beat, even if he was the last I was going to give myself to.
I looked up at him, meeting his pleading eyes. “Okay, Ryker. I’ll do it,” I said tentatively, nerves and anticipation fluttering in my chest.
The smile that spread across his face was nothing like his usual smirk. It was bright, full of genuine joy, and then it melted into something hotter, something much more Ryker.
“…If,” I added.
He groaned. “Here we go again with the 'if.' Alright. What’s your condition?”
“I have two.”
“Of course you do. Fine. Shoot.”
“First, you apologize, sincerely, for killing my plants, you murderer.”
"Done!"
He immediately dropped to his knees, forehead to the floor in full dramatic grovel mode.
“I am sorry, Kitten, that I murdered all your plants. I’ll buy you new ones. Hell, I’ll dig them out of the forest myself if that’s what you want. You can name them. I’ll water them and sing to them. Whatever fixes this broken part of your soul.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Better.”
“What’s the second condition?”
“I’m not telling you yet. Agree to it when the time comes.”
An image of Talon's tongue spearing Ryker's lips came to mind, and Talon raised his eyebrow, shooting me a look that told me he had heard my thoughts.
“What? That’s not fair! How can I agree to something if I don’t even know what it is?”
“No ass—”
“Fine! I agree!” he snapped before I could finish the threat.
I held out my hand. “Deal.”
He took it, sealing our pact, and immediately wiggled his eyebrows at me. In less than a second, he scooped me into his arms and threw me over his shoulder, swatting my ass.
“Well, all of you assholes have already had your turn! Kitten’s mine now, and I’m going to take my time enjoying her in my room!” his giddy voice called out to Cade and Talon before he carried me down the hall, into his bedroom, and dropped me onto his bed.
As he locked the door and turned back to me, he changed.
His eyes darkened with lust, his muscles tensed, and the familiar glint of mischief turned sharp and dangerous.
Gone was the Ryker who put my nerves at ease.
Standing in front of me was a man every bit as predatory as the rest. His pretty-boy looks and easy smile sometimes made me underestimate just how dangerous he could be.
My nerves churned, the air thick with anticipation, but instead of shrinking back, I reached for him.