Chapter 41 A Worthy Punishment
forty-one
A Worthy Punishment
Armherst looks up over my shoulder and then smirks. “I’ll be going now.”
She hurries out the door, and I’m stuck rooted to the spot, watching her go. His heat is immobilizing, all-consuming. I want to feel his hands on me, but know better than to step back into him when a punishment is on the horizon.
“Hello, Rhazan,” Nai Nai calls in a singsong voice.
“Hello, Mrs. Feng,” he replies in a stern voice. “Jade will return shortly.”
Smoke surges across my skin and wraps me in a cocoon of cold.
I gasp as the world goes gray, and then returns in radiant color.
The spines of the books on his shelves. The fire in the hearth.
Everything seems more real, more alive, than it’s been before.
Is this what his world looks like when he’s not magically restrained?
“Jiahui,” he rumbles, an edge of anger in his voice.
I shiver. “Yes, RhazDaddy?”
He grunts, then circles in front of me. “You summoned Skreet.”
I swallow hard. “Yep.”
“Knowingly.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What prompted you to be so reckless with what’s mine?”
The possessive word is growled from deep in his chest, and I feel the tug on my astral tether. I am his. And he’s mine. Forever.
I worry my lower lip, pouting hard with my eyes wide. “I was desperate.”
His eyes flare with heat and his biceps bulge with restraint.
“You were being stubborn,” he says. “Taking something on by yourself—”
“I had help,” I interject, but realize the error of my ways too late.
His fiery magic wraps around my wrists and he pulls me toward the desk. Without touching me, he drags me across the surface and secures my binding to the mantle above the fireplace. In one quick jerk, he rips the waistband of my pants, exposing my panties.
“Hey! I liked those!”
His hand comes down in a brutal strike that stings more than any that came before. I whimper and suck down a quivering gasp.
“You endangered not only your life, but your world’s safety,” he says.
I glance over my shoulder at him as tears gather in my eyes.
“You need to be punished.”
The IBMA did let me off pretty easy…
I suck in my pouting lip and nod at him.
The second strike is even harder, but I’m more prepared for it. Heat is already swelling in both cheeks, and the pain is at the edge of tolerable.
The third strike makes me squirm.
The fourth makes me cry out.
The pain is fleeting, and what it leaves behind throbs with my beating heart. Rhazan stands over me, his chest glowing from the scars of power. They beat like mine—fast, and full of love.
“You went there alone, with a crackpot plan, and didn’t tell me where you were going,” he says.
“I’m sorry, RhazDaddy,” I murmur.
Another clap hits my ass, and while it’s not as hard as the previous four, it still stings. The pain fades faster, though, and blood rushes back in to warm the spot. I twist my hips, gaining a little friction against my thighs to quell the ache in my center.
Rhaz stands behind me and sticks his feet between mine, spreading them apart. “You didn’t trust the detective to help you.”
His palm lands with a smack that’s louder than it is painful, but it makes me jolt back into him. He groans as my ass hits his thigh and the bulge pressed against it.
“You didn’t wait for help that was already on the way.”
Another spank rocks me forward and I push back against him.
“I should’ve waited,” I whimper and shift my hips up and down against his thigh, barely brushing his cock through his pants.
I hear the clink of his belt buckle and my muscles clench hard against nothing. My panties are wet and sticky against my skin, but offer no relief from the need I feel to be touched.
“Promise me you will not be so reckless again,” he says, dragging the leather across the exposed underside of my cheek.
“I promise, never again,” I say with a breathy moan.
The zip of his pants makes my heart thunder. The crinkle of a wrapper comes next, and a gentle tear.
“Promise you’ll never scare me like that again,” he says, his voice low and raw with emotion.
“I promise. I’ll always tell you. I won’t do it all on my own.” I rush out the words, hoping that they get me closer to the intimacy I’m craving.
The bindings disappear and Rhaz grabs my ass, rolling me over. His hand closes around my throat, pinning me to the desk with gentle urgency. His face is full of longing, and need, but a hint of fear, too.
“There is no world, no plane of existence, where I could find peace without you,” he says as his other hand caresses up and down my thigh. “There’s no life for me after you.”
“I’m still here,” I murmur. “Let me prove it.”
I press my heels into his ass until his cock brushes my center.
He rocks against me, and his grip tightens on my throat.
The slickness of my panties is almost embarrassing, but it makes him groan.
His tail hooks under the hem of my underwear on one side and his free hand grabs the other.
I shift my hips to help guide them down, but then he tugs, ripping them open instead.
He holds the tatters up with his tail and flicks them aside.
His hand returns to my leg and he steps into me, the underside of his cock rubbing against my center as he does.
He grabs my ankles behind his back, stacking them over one another and pinning them in place with a hot bind of his magic.
There’s nowhere for me to go, not an inch of give in his hold.
He grips my thigh, talons pricking my skin. “I could’ve lost you.”
“I’m here,” I whisper, using my other hand to guide him.
He shifts his hips back and down, aligning with my opening. I brush his head up and down my center, coating the condom in my slickness. With reverent slowness, he presses into me. The stretch I’ve yearned for fills the space that’s been aching, but I need more.
I press my feet into his lower back and get another inch of him. A searing, all-consuming inch that makes me moan and pant. I hold on to his wrist and the edge of the desk, keeping myself from moving away as he pushes inside me.
He closes his eyes, pressing harder until our hips seal, like he could fuse us together. The heat of him is pure bliss, a reminder of wholeness, and unity. Of peace and comfort.
“Are you ready for the rest of your punishment?” he asks, his eyes still tightly shut.
“I can take it,” I say, challenging him to let go.
When his eyes open, they’re a living flame, burning in his sockets with brilliant desire. Smoke spills from his nose as he huffs a single, mirthless laugh.
“There’s my Firecracker.”
He pulls all the way out and slams into me with a ruthless snap of his hips. He doesn’t stop, slapping against me over and over in deep, powerful thrusts. I dig my fingers into the desk, holding on with everything I have as I moan out a curse.
His tail wraps over my thigh and flicks against my clit on his next push, and I gasp, so close to coming already. The metronome cadence of his hips is matched by his tail, and stars dance in my vision. The ecstasy is just within my reach when he stops, going completely still.
I whine, pushing my feet into his back, but he doesn’t budge.
“You don’t get to come,” he says, his thumb sliding over my jaw and across my trembling lower lip. “Not yet.”
I move my hand from the desk to my clit, but before I can even get in a single stroke, his tail yanks on my wrist. It’s pinned to the desk once more, so I let go of his wrist and reach with my other hand. He captures me with his free hand and pushes farther onto the desk, leaning over me.
“Not until that stubborn, willful streak in you surrenders to me.”
“And if you come?” I ask, squeezing the muscles in my pelvic floor.
He groans and the fire in his eyes stutters, like it’s rolling into the back of his head, but then burns brighter.
“You’re not going to make me come,” he says.
His hips pull back and he repositions, pressing the mound of his pelvis into my clit on his next thrust. The coiling sensation in my lower belly has receded some, but instantly begins to ratchet even higher than before. He rocks into me, pinning me down and pushing me higher with each movement.
I clench my muscles again, holding them tight as he pulls out of me.
He shudders and slams back into me harder.
I cry out, squeezing my thighs to keep him against me as I try to rotate my hips, rubbing myself against him.
His hand slides from my throat to the back of my neck, pinning me onto him with his next punishing movement.
There is no room for hip wiggles. No way to get that little extra push into heart-pounding oblivion.
He holds us there, his lips hovering over mine, our breath tangled. The more I breathe him in, the more I crave his kiss, but he doesn’t give in. I bite down on my lower lip hard and his eyes smolder.
“Your methods of persuasion are powerful,” he says.
I bite harder, just to the point of breaking skin.
A cocky smirk pulls up the side of his mouth. “But it’s not enough.”
He resumes his punishment. Forcing me to the brink of orgasm again and again. I fight him with every weapon I have without begging. I know it’s over once I beg, and I want to see if I can break him first.
I’m sweating by the fifth edging. Rhazan pulls me off the desk, cradling my ass against his groin as he strips my borrowed shirt off. He looks at all the smudged marks on my skin, the used-up runes that helped me fight the skreet overlord.
“You’re beautiful like this,” he murmurs. “Messy war paint, covered in sweat.”
I lean into him, seeking his lips with mine, but he catches me by the hair. I yelp as he pulls my head back, exposing my neck.
“You’re so sneaky,” he murmurs, his lips hovering just over the column of my throat. “When are you going to give in to me?”
“Losing your resolve?” I taunt as I flex my pelvic muscles again.
He hums a laugh and kisses my neck. The vibrations of his sinister joy make my nipple pebble. He lifts me off his cock and then grinds me back down. My clit aches from the attention and begs for relief. I can’t fold so quickly after challenging him.
I slide my fingers through his hair and grasp his horns in both hands. He grunts against my neck and his hips snap forward with need. I slide my fingers around the textured bone, testing the sensitivity. He doesn’t react as strongly, so I use my nails next, tracing designs.
His tail slides across my bare ass. “You want to add in more play, Firecracker?”
I pant as I stare at the ceiling, considering the implication. I didn’t have experience with anal play, but the last time he touched me there it was…nice.
“Do you think you could handle more play?” I ask.
His fangs drag across my shoulder as he smiles, then his tail pushes between my cheeks. I gasp, clenching a little on instinct.
“Relax,” he whispers, kissing me gently.
I ease into his hold and loosen my grip on his horns. His tail slides back and forth across my other hole, spreading the slickness from my pussy. He releases my hair, his other hand trailing down to my thigh. The warring of pleasure and uncertainty makes me cling to him.
He lifts and lowers me slowly, allowing the symphony of sensations to play me open, and begin the climb again. I wrap an arm around his back, giving me some leverage to move with him, and he lets me.
His tail presses against my ass, the pressure bringing a new level of bliss to our joining. I moan and close my eyes, losing myself to the feeling of him entering me in both places, filling and owning me completely.
“That’s it,” he murmurs. “You want to come so badly, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I groan.
“You know what I need to hear,” he says.
I open my eyes and watch him watching me. He looks just as desperate to come as I feel. I clench my muscles around him, trembling in every part of my body as he grinds me down. I’m so much higher than the first edge, and so ready to lose myself, but not ready to beg.
He goes still and I cry as the orgasm ebbs, just barely out of reach. I try to move myself against him, any bit of friction I can get to finish this myself, but he holds me with unrelenting strength. If I lose this orgasm, I don’t know if I’ll survive.
He presses his cheek to mine and whispers, “Beg, Jiahui.”
I whimper pathetically as I try to shift again, clenching my muscles and trying to force myself to the peak. It’s just there, almost…god-fuck-damn it all—
“Please,” I cry.
His lips find mine and he moves with deliberate purpose. Our tongues tangle as I moan unendingly, the pleasure so great I lose the strength in my arms. It takes everything I have just to cling to him as he drives me over the edge and into madness.
I suck down a desperate gasp before the plunge, and then my body seizes. Blinding pleasure rips through me like an inferno, turning every bit of my resistance to ash. There is nothing but us in this moment, and the bliss of our union.
He groans and shakes as he loses himself in me. The depth of his longing drives him harder, bringing my orgasm to a searing new height. Tears stream down my face and mingle with the sweat.
Our bodies slide together slowly as Rhazan returns to himself. He breaks our kiss, panting as he presses his forehead to mine. My body is spent, wrung out completely, and my quivering muscles make that known.
He releases the binds on my ankles and pulls out of me, lowering me to the floor. I can’t possibly stand, and I think he knows it too, so we drop down to the ornate rug.He sprawls out and pulls me against his chest, breathing hard.
I look down and see the excessively full condom hanging off him. I’ll have to rate these five stars—able to handle massive demon loads.
I chuckle at my own mental joke, and Rhaz squeezes my shoulder.
“What’s that?”
“Just…I love you,” I say.
He sighs deeply and kisses my forehead. “I love you, too.”