Chapter 27
Emily cleared the final arch and emerged into the torchlit yard. She’d made it through without a single penalty and, miracle of miracles, without face-planting and eating dirt. Honestly, she deserved a medal for that alone.
She angled her face to the sky, letting the open air cool her overheated skin. It did nothing for the sharp ache in her clamped nipples and the plug making its presence known with each step. The vibe had shut off, thankfully, but the echo of it pulsed between her thighs, impossible to ignore.
A crowd had gathered near the finish line. A sub volunteer released her cuffs and offered her a bottle of water and a blanket. Her skin was too sensitive for anything more than the breeze, but she wrapped up and found a spot among the submissives who’d finished ahead of her.
She wanted to remove everything, but the others hadn’t yet. So she drank her water, tried not to think about it, and waited.
The crowd buzzed with impatience as the remaining contestants slowly exited the maze. Emily pulled the blanket tighter around her, careful of the clamps which really needed to come off soon.
She felt eyes on her. Dozens of them. Maybe more.
She glanced around, searching for Alec, hoping for the anchor of his presence. But her eyes landed instead on Julia among the crowd of onlookers.
Emily hadn’t seen her in weeks—not since the case exploded and she’d been staying with Alec. Her friend stood near the back, radiant in a sapphire corset, her hair swept up, her expression warm. When she caught Emily’s eye, she offered a thumbs-up and an encouraging smile.
She’d sent her a text message, so she wouldn’t worry. Just that something had come up and she’d be out of touch for a while. Now, she wanted to reconnect with her friend. To ask how things were going with Regina in the aftermath. To say thank you.
“The scores are in,” Devil announced from the edge of the patio.
He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to; his authoritative tone quickly silenced the crowd.
“We’ll start with the bottom three. Lyla, Piper, and Deanna—you climaxed at nearly every station and finished with negative numbers.
I should make you run the maze again. Instead, Master Mateo will take charge of the loser’s bracket and deliver a just punishment. ”
Piper groaned but fell in line as Mateo led the three of them away.
Devil’s gaze swept the crowd. “Now for our winners. In first place, who clearly isn’t as directionally challenged as she claims, is Sophia.”
Cheers erupted, especially from Sophia who squealed and ran forward. “I choose Master Leland—and his amazing violet wand,” she said, flushed and glowing.
The crowd erupted in laughter and applause as her chosen dom, looking eager for an encore, strode forward and led her into the maze where he was already set up.
Emily’s gaze shifted instinctively to Julia.
Her smile had vanished. Her mask had slipped. In its place: vulnerability, jealousy, and longing. She turned sharply, vanishing into the crowd before Emily could move.
Instinct overrode everything, and she took a step to go after her, but the chain swayed, the clamps bit, and the plug pulsed a stark reminder. She was still part of the game, and quite naked beneath the blanket.
“In second place…” Devil’s voice rang out. “Emily.”
She jerked in surprise, wincing when all of her attachments did too. Had she heard right? She glanced around—maybe there was another Emily.
No one else stepped forward, and Master Dev’s gaze settled on her. She hadn’t expected to place. Had never even considered it.
On legs still shaky, with the clamps tugging with every movement, she moved forward to accept her prize.
“Your choice for the remainder of the evening, Emily?”
Her voice was quiet, but it carried. “Master Alec.”
“There’s a shocker,” someone drawled, dry and amused.
Another voice commented, “The surprise is that he let her play at all.”
Laughter rippled through the crowd as bodies shifted, revealing Alec standing near the patio.
Not caring who laughed or what pinched, she started toward him. He met her halfway and drew her into a hug—firm, enveloping, everything she now knew she needed.
She melted into him, burying her face against his chest. In long, slow, soothing sweeps, his hand stroked her back.
“I missed you,” she whispered.
“I was never far away,” he murmured.
They stood that way for several long heartbeats, the noise of the club fading around them.
“We should get those clamps off you.”
“Yes, please.” She leaned away, just enough to look up at him. “I need to tell you something first. The maze… it helped me realize you’re what I need.”
“I was counting on it,” he said gently.
Confusion flickered. “I don’t understand.”
“My patience was wearing thin, waiting for you to figure it out. The game in the maze tonight was the perfect way to nudge you along.”
Her jaw went slack. “How?”
“I chose every dom. Every station. Every sensation. I was in the security office watching the whole time, and directing.”
“You told Master Marcus to use that monster plug?”
“It was medium, Em. But yes, it was hand selected by me.”
She looked down at the rubber-tipped tweezers pinching her nipples. “Mateo’s nasty clamps, too?”
He touched a pinched tip, whisper soft. “They’re beginners’ clamps, baby.”
“Why?”
His gaze rose to hers. “I wanted you to experience what you thought you were missing and to decide, once and for all, that it was me all along.”
“You were so possessive when you thought Rhys was going to kiss me. Didn’t it bother you seeing me with the others?”
“As your dom, guiding you is part of my job. Even when it’s killing me. Especially with Mateo and Natalie who went off script.” His jaw tightened. “I wanted to strangle them.”
She stared at him, stunned. “I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.
His hands framed her face, tilting it up to his. “Say that you love me and that you want me, not only as your dom but as your husband.”
Her breath caught. Something dangerously close to hope bloomed in her chest. “Are you really proposing?”
“To love and to cherish for the rest of our lives. Isn’t that what you want, sweetheart? Because I have for a very long time.”
Tears gathered, blurring the lights and shadow around them.
“I don’t want anyone else. Without you, all of this”—she gestured to the labyrinth, playground, and kinky crowd surrounding them, wincing a bit when the chain pulled—“is just a means to a physical end. Like a sneeze or an itch to scratch. That’s not what I want or need.
I know that now, and I’m sorry for being a fool for so long. ”
His arms tightened around her. “You’re not a fool. You just needed help finding your way.”
The world narrowed to the rhythm of his breath and the strength of his embrace.
Her body still hummed, her mind still spun, but in his arms, she eased into a calm she hadn’t known in years.
Alec lifted her chin, and he kissed her—slow and certain—sealing everything they’d finally allowed themselves to feel, everything they were choosing now, and the truth they could no longer deny.
She could have stayed that way forever, his mouth warm on hers, hands threading through her hair, bodies melded together, but Devil’s voice rang out again.
“In third place—Gabriella.”
They broke apart to watch, Emily turning in Alec’s arms as her friend stepped forward.
Devil gestured toward the doms who’d played the game. “Make your choice.”
Gaby’s gaze swept through them and landed on Rhys.
He stood at the edge, slightly apart, arms crossed, expression unreadable. The moment their eyes met, something shifted. Tension arced between them.
Emily felt it—a string pulled taut.
Rhys stared back at Gaby for one long beat, jaw ticking then he turned and strode off. No words. No gestures. Just the sound of his boots on stone and the echo of something unspoken.
She stood frozen, her hands clenched at her sides. Devil cleared his throat but didn’t rush her.
Emily’s heart ached. She knew that look. That moment when hope cracked and something raw slipped through.
Gaby lifted her chin and met Dev’s gaze. “Thank you, but I’ll pass.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
Devil nodded solemnly. “That’s certainly your choice.”
She turned, her composure hanging on by a thread, and walked away, disappearing into the shadowed sidewalk along the side of the house.
An awkward silence followed, the membership shocked by the outcome.
“I should go after her,” Emily whispered.
A familiar voice spoke. “I’ll see to her,” Master Everett said quietly. His expression calm but purposeful, he followed Gaby.
Emily watched him go, her chest tight with gratitude.
“I can’t believe Rhys rejected her so publicly,” she said, her heartache for one friend spurring anger toward another. “What was he thinking?”
Alec’s jaw flexed. “He’s a friend, and a good guy, but he can be a stubborn ass. After the sting fades, hopefully she’ll see that and realize she’s better off.”
Emily leaned into him, grateful for the clarity the maze had given her—and the man who’d waited at the end—but her heart hurt for Gaby. “You’re right. She did what she had to for her sister. If Rhys is too blind to see that, he doesn’t deserve her.”
“Everett will make sure she gets the aftercare she needs.” He scooped her into his arms. “Which leaves me to take care of you.”
“Does that mean I can take off these clamps? They’re starting to get uncomfortable.”
“Just starting?” he asked, carrying her swiftly past the arbor.
“They passed ‘starting’ after your friend turned the screw. Did you direct that too?”
“The clamps, yes. The tightness, no. That was all sadist, which we will discuss, believe me.”
He hurried down the shadowed walk beside the house, and up the narrow staircase to one of Devil’s guest rooms above the garage. The door clicked shut behind them. The room was simple—low lighting, soft sheets, a wide bed—but it felt like sanctuary.
“First things first,” he murmured, pressing her against the door. “These clamps are going to hurt coming off.”
“I’ve heard that,” she whispered. “Please, hurry.”
“Some things can’t be rushed,” he said, tracing a finger over one compressed tip. “Or you’ll suffer for it. Try to breathe through the pain. Here goes,” he announced.
The sudden rush of blood into her nipple triggered a sharp hiss, but he took it into his mouth, sucking gently until she softened against him.
“One more to go.”
“I’m ready,” she whispered.
The next one was as bad as the first, but his mouth and soft caresses made the flash of pain worth it.
When she could breathe again, he moved in for a kiss. She opened for him, tongue tangling with his. Her fingers buried in his hair, rubbing her body against his, inner muscles clamping down on the emptiness, yearning desperately to be filled by him.
Alec felt the same urgency.
“We’ll go slow next time,” he growled. “Right now, I have to be inside you.”
He pulled the straps down her legs. The butterfly clattered onto the floor as he tore open his fly. The condom delayed him only slightly. Then he lifted her, and, with her pinned to the door, drove up inside her.
His impressive size combined with the plug made it a snug fit, but the past hour had her primed and ready. After a few controlled glides—deeper each time—he seated himself fully.
His hands supported her bottom, his fingers flexing and squeezing, reigniting the heat of the spanks in the maze. Each upstroke nudged her clit, her tender nipples grazing his chest—pleasure and pain colliding.
He slid one hand between them, long fingers finding the swollen bud.
“I can’t hold off much longer,” she gasped, clinging to his neck.
“I don’t want you to,” he murmured huskily. “Come for me, Emily.”
His fingers worked her clit in rhythm with his driving cock and the shifting plug. Mindless to everything except the pleasure, she let out a keening wail as her body convulsed. After fighting off an impending climax for over an hour, she came.
Alec followed, growling as he thrust home, setting off another shuddering release that rippled through her.
She clung to him as the tremors passed, still hanging on when he gave her his weight, but only briefly. Then he carried her to bed.
“I think you’ve had enough of this,” he said, rolling her onto her side. He eased the plug out slowly, her body letting go with a soft pop.
He kissed the curve of her hip. “Be right back.”
Devoid of clamps, plugs, and tension, and replete with pleasure, she lay limp on the bed, listening to the water run. She was dozing when the mattress shifted. He slid in close, fit himself along her body, and covered them both with a sheet.
“You okay, beautiful?” he asked.
She twisted until her eyes met his. “I’m more than okay. I have my knight back.”
His hand curved around her jaw, guiding her into a kiss that left no questions, no doubts—only the quiet, overwhelming truth of him. Familiar. Certain. The place she’d always belonged.
When they broke for air and settled again, she whispered, “I love you so much, Alec.”
He brushed her hair aside and kissed the bend of her neck. “I love you too, baby. More than I ever thought I could. First thing tomorrow, I’m putting a ring on your finger so the doms around here know you’re mine.”
She smiled, sleepy and soft. “I always was.”
They curled together, her head on his biceps, his other arm around her waist. The night outside was quiet, but inside the room, everything had changed.
She’d taken on the maze, faced tough truths, and found the answer.
And he’d waited—aching, watching, hoping.
Now, they were together. At long last.