Chapter 9
Natalia
Adrian traced his fingers down the curve of my spine, causing me to tremble visibly before him.
“You’re afraid, aren’t you?” he questioned.
“Yes, sir,” I murmured.
“You should be, my little mate,” he said, and the warmth of his touch left my back.
I missed it immediately, but I was quickly distracted by the sound of him opening a large trunk behind me.
I heard him rustling through it. When he was finished, he walked around me and sat on the bed in front of me.
He placed a long, thin black object down so that I could see it.
It was a crop.
My mouth opened and closed without a sound. The rope creaked as I tried to pull away, knowing full well that I was fully bound and at his mercy.
He reached for me and took my left nipple in his fingers. Slowly, he squeezed it, pulling and massaging it gently until it was hard and far too sensitive. He did the same with the right, humming with satisfaction after he was through.
“This next part is going to hurt, mate.”
He picked up the crop and stood back up, walking behind me once more. His palm flattened against my lower back, and I took a deep breath, reveling in the strange comforting feeling of his touch on my skin. It made me feel braver in the face of whatever was coming tonight.
“Arch your back, Natalia. Present that pretty red bottom for me,” he coaxed. When I did as he asked, my core spiraled with warmth.
I closed my eyes, struggling with why obeying him made me feel that way.
A swishing noise cut through the air. It was so quick that I almost thought I’d imagined hearing it, but when a viciously cruel line of fire branded across my ass, I knew I hadn’t. The air burst from my lungs and a quiet cry escaped my lips.
It was so fierce that I could do nothing but rise up on my toes as the agony deepened. I could feel that first welt marking my skin, the heat growing hotter and hotter until it finally crested and began to fade.
Another one followed. And another.
My entire world became that crop in an instant. Each terrible line was worse than the next as he descended the cusp of my backside. Its bite was quick, allowing me no time to cope with one before the next.
I wrapped my fingers around the rope as best as I could, holding on for dear life.
“Please!” I finally managed to beg, but it fell on deaf ears.
“You ran from me, little mate. As your alpha, it is my duty to make sure you never consider doing something like that again,” he scolded.
“Yes, alpha!” I squeaked and two particularly vicious swats bit into the backs of my thighs. He paused then, which allowed me to feel the full effect of each one. I squeezed my eyes shut, a soft wail escaping my lips against my will.
The sting was unbearable. My legs shook as the cumulative effect of the crop started to take its toll. Each lash felt like a fire brand, throbbing hot with heat long after impact.
“Good girl,” he murmured. “I’m proud of you for recognizing me as your alpha.”
His palm circled my lower back, dipping lower and cupping the weight of my bottom cheek in his hand. I hissed quietly as the ache from his touch ignited the welts, but I knew better than to complain.
This was a punishment. Every part of it was supposed to hurt.
The crop struck just underneath my bottom, catching the top of my thigh especially hard. Another followed on the other side, and I was left gasping for air as a rain of harsh blows followed.
The tip of the crop was cruel as it bit into my skin with vicious force, but it was the thin leather shaft that was especially punishing. He used both parts of the crop to whip me, varying between them.
If I wasn’t restrained, there would have been no way I could have stayed still enough for this.
Even so, my hips wagged from side to side.
I pulled at my bonds as hard as I could, but the rope held fast. The firm grip of the rope around my wrist was comforting at the same time that it frustratingly terrifying.
“Please! I’m sorry I ran from you! Please, alpha!” I cried out.
“I know you are, little mate. I forgive you,” he answered and there was a part of me that felt relief at hearing those words.
“Oh, please! It hurts, alpha,” I wailed.
“I know, sweet girl. It’s supposed to,” he answered calmly.
When the crop whipped up between my thighs to catch my pussy with that flat part of the tip, I yelped louder than all the rest. My soaked folds made the burn that much worse. He whipped me there several times in a row. I whimpered and my eyes started to water.
“Please, no more, alpha,” I begged.
“Not yet, little one. I’m not finished with you,” he chided, and I cried out at the conviction behind his words.
There was nothing for me to do but take it and in the end, that’s what broke me. I lost every last bit of control in that moment, and he took all of it.
I started to cry. After that first tear fell, there was no stopping the ones that followed no matter how hard I tried to hold them back.
The crop returned to my backside, whipping me several times down my cheeks before it returned to my legs. I cried harder, but that didn’t stop him.
The fight left me in those moments. What remained was acceptance.
Even though he’d made me cry, there was a sense of safety and security in the way he’d done it. He never removed his hand from me. He kept it on my lower back and that was calming in a way.
I sobbed openly as he placed the crop down in front of me. He grasped my left wrist and quickly untied it. He did the same with my right side.
He didn’t free my legs.
Slowly, he bent me over the bed. I slumped forward, grateful for the bed’s soft surface. My fingers fisted the blankets beneath me, and he sat down beside me. One of his hands rubbed up and down my back while the other took my left hand in his.
“It’s alright, mate. I’ve got you. I’m going to take care of you,” he murmured, and I sniffled back my tears as much as I could. Some of them still dripped down my cheeks. When I lifted my head, I saw that there was a pool of them staining the comforter.
As I slowly calmed, I soon became very aware of the building heat between my legs. I was so aroused. No man had ever been strong enough to handle me like this before and it was doing shameful things to me that I really didn’t want to face.
I had a feeling he was going to make me though.
“Do you know why I was so harsh with you, my beautiful mate?” he asked.
“I think so, alpha,” I answered nervously.
“Tell me, sweet girl,” he coaxed. The gentleness in his voice pulled me in. His palm never stopped moving along my back. It was so soothing.
“Because I ran from you, alpha.”
“Not just that, little one. The moment you walked through my door, I knew you were mine. You are my one true mate. I know that. You may not recognize that yet, but you will. We are tied together and no matter how far you try to run, you cannot escape fate. You’re in my world now and it’s a dangerous one.
You’re going to need my protection,” he continued.
“I don’t believe it,” I answered quietly, even though I didn’t believe the words I’d just said.
“Don’t lie to me again, mate,” he warned.
My pussy throbbed incredibly hard. I bent my knees, but I couldn’t bring my thighs together.
“I want you to remember tonight, little mate. If you ever run from me again, I want you to think about my crop punishing you even harder in all your sensitive places. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, alpha,” I shivered. I swallowed hard. My backside clenched nervously around the plug still nestled between my cheeks. Everything burned so much now that I hardly even noticed the gentle ache of the steel toy that still filled me.
“Good girl. Now we can continue with the rest of your punishment,” he said darkly, and I stiffened.
“The rest?” I squeaked.
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stood up and moved behind me, only to spread my bottom cheeks open so that he could grasp the end of the plug.
Without warning, he pulled it out and tossed it aside, leaving me to grapple with the slight pinch from its removal and the emptiness that remained after being full of it for so long.
Something wet poured down my cleft and then I heard the sound of his zipper. My mouth went dry. The only thing it could be was lube.
I yelped, trying to push myself back up, but his hand on my waist pushed me all the way down.
“The cropping was punishment for running from me, mate. You’re going to get this little bottom fucked for putting yourself in danger unnecessarily.
The next time you think about rushing into a den of vampires, I want you to remember how sore this tight little hole is going to be when I’m finished with it,” he scolded, and I cried out as the heat from his cock brushed against me in the most shameful of places.
“Please,” I begged. I wanted to plead for him to stop, but my body wanted something else.
My pussy was growing wetter by the second.
I closed my eyes. I remembered what his finger had felt like back there.
The plug had hurt at first too, but there was a point that I’d crossed while wearing it that I’d started to enjoy it. “You won’t fit!”
“Your body was made for me, mate. You’re going to take every inch of me in this tight virgin hole whether you like it or not,” he vowed.
“Oh!” I gasped as he began to push inside me. The initial stretching pain was far more intense than I expected. The head of his cock was thick, hard, and at once, I felt like it was splitting me in two.
“I can’t!”
“You can, mate. You earned this and you’re going to take it, aren’t you? You need me to punish this naughty little hole with my cock.”
“Yes, alpha,” I keened, struggling to take the cruel burning agony radiating up and down my spine. There was no relaxing with him pushing inside me. He was far too big for that, and my body panicked. My muscles tightened, clenching down harder and only making the pain that much worse.