SurrendersMischief (18 page)

Hers to tease and torment.

Hers.

His cock.

His balls.

His ass.

Just remembering her dreams caused her pussy to swell and
grow moist, her nipples to contract and harden. A fire burned in her belly.

But first she had to make him accept he belonged to her.

Riana slowly closed the book. Swiveling the chair, she
looked out the open window. The grass was dry and brittle, the plants wilting.
In the distance, the range of mountains shimmered, blue and cool, in the
midafternoon heat. It was an illusion, she knew. The entire country-state was
suffering the effects of the drought.

She took a deep breath of the hot, dry air and released it
slowly.

Darias refused to acknowledge that he belonged to her.

Until he accepted that, he would continue to fight her.

A part of her enjoyed the battle between them…but not in the
bedroom. There, she would rule.

Her mouth set in a firm line. Darias would submit, even if
it took upending him over her lap every night. A slow, sensual smile relaxed
the tight lines of her lips.

She would make sure he enjoyed every slap of her hand,
whether he wanted to or not.

It was time to take the play between them to a new level.

Riana tapped one nail on the supple leather of her short
skirt. Although, play was not exactly the correct word. Every since she’d used
the stim paddle on Darias, he’d defied her more and more, determined to gain
back the control he’d lost to her. He liked—no, craved—what she did to him in
the bedchamber and that, she realized with a flash of insight, terrified him more
than the idea of having his butt blistered in the Great Hall.

Regaining his position of Supreme Chief translated to
regaining control of his responses to her.

The struggle between them, though, played within certain,
accepted rules. No longer were outsiders brought into it as each attempted to
outmaneuver the other. A small smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. Though
Darias would sooner be trampled by a wild
chelan
than admit it, he took
care to avoid pushing her to the point of spanking his ass in real punishment
again. Thus the battle between them had become a delicate balancing act of
defiance and dominance, of play and passion.

Even in the bedroom. Since that night she used the stim
paddle, he’d forced her to make him submit to her demands. But she could sense
him struggle against the desire to simply hand her complete control over his
body and responses.

And that caused her to see how far she could push him. It
also forced her to realize something else.

She loved dominating him.

Perhaps that revelation should disturb her, but it was
somehow as if her time spent as his slave, subject to his whims and punishment
had set something loose in her. Something that craved having a strong man
surrender to her on the most basic level there was between a man and a woman.

She shifted in her chair.

Zethra, what did that make her? She’d never gotten her
jollies by beating a man or by being the one in total control. Being in Nexar
set free a side of her that she had kept hidden from even herself.

A side that she liked.

Perhaps too much.

She waited to feel uncomfortable with that thought. All she
felt was the tingle of excitement at the coming conflict. She set the book on
the polished surface of her desk. She would start today. Now. Filled with
renewed determination, she went in search of Bryta.

* * * * *

Her heart pounded and her throat was dry. Could she do this?
Could she take their relationship this far? Up until now, the lines were drawn
along comfortable boundaries. Daytime was for battle of ruling the country-state,
night for their private battle. An intimate time of hot, sweaty sex and
cautious sharing of thoughts and dreams.

Was she about to ruin everything in her desire to dominate
this one man?

The door to the bedchamber opened and her spinning thoughts
screeched to halt. Surreptitiously, she dried her sweating palms on the
midnight spidersilk of the comforter.

“You wanted to speak to me?” There was just enough taunting
arrogance in Darias’ tone to straighten her spine. She lifted her chin and put
a chill in her own voice.

“Come here.”

Caution flashed across his face, to be replaced almost
instantly by a slight smirk. He shut the door behind him then sauntered across
the room, a deliberate swagger in his walk.

She could tell he believed they were about to have another
discussion about his attempted disruption of the running of the household, but
it was equally clear he wasn’t truly worried. After all, it was before the
midday meal.

She allowed a slow smile to curve her lips.

His stride faltered.

Darias recovered almost immediately. He stopped in front of
her, hands behind his back as he inclined his head with mock deference. “Bryta
said you wanted to see me. How may I serve you, Supreme Chief?”

Riana ground her teeth together, refusing to give him the
satisfaction of knowing just how irritating the appellation was becoming. He
had taken to using the formal address at every turn. He did it just to annoy
her and, blast him, it worked! The glint in the eye said he knew it.

Time to remove that smugness.

Riana put her hands behind her, crossed one leg over the
other and leaned back casually. She knew the position threw her breasts into
prominence while her crossed legs hiked up her skirt to show a shadowed glimpse
of her moist pussy.

His cock twitched.

“Unfasten your breeches.”

He licked his lips, his gaze darting up to hers before being
drawn back to that shadowed vee between her legs.

“Now!” Her voice cracked into the silence. His fingers shot
to the fastening of the silken trousers. The material dropped to the floor with
a sensuous rustle. All the while, his gaze didn’t budge.

“Remove the thong.” His lips were parted slightly, and his
breathing increased. He did as instructed and his cock sprang free, fully
engorged and eager.

She paused to admire it—long, thick and pulsing with need.
At the base, her hand would not close all the way around it.

“Riana, it is day and Nexarian tradition doesn’t allow…”

“Silence!” The command hung on the hot and heavy air. His
mouth snapped shut and his gaze finally met hers. Something he saw in hers
filled his with wariness.

Rising, she strolled around him. She touched the tip of her
finger to the bulbous head of his cock. It jerked. His chest heaved.

“You may not speak until I give permission.”

“You’re joking.” A scowl wiped some of the lust from his
expression. “I refuse…”

“You have earned your first punishment.”

His mouth opened and then snapped shut as her meaning
penetrated. Was she talking about punishment like when they were doing love
play or was she referring to bent-over-the-chair, ass-on-fire spanking of real
punishment? Riana knew it was the uncertainty of the answer to that question
that stayed his objection. She wasn’t in a hurry to ease his mind.

Continuing her slow rotation around him, she trailed her
finger over his hip, to the small of his back. She traced an intricate pattern
there with the tip of her nail.

He shivered.

Power surged through her. She could make this massive
warrior shudder with the touch of a finger and force him to obey against his
natural dominant instincts. She continued walking until she was standing
directly in front of him.

Her voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. “New
rules. One, whenever we are in private you will be naked at all times unless
you are preparing to leave the room.” His jaw clenched, but his erection didn’t
wilt. “Two, when alone, you will not speak unless I give you leave. If you have
a question or feel the need to talk, you must first ask my permission. I may or
may not give it.”

Riana could feel moisture seeping down her inner thigh. She
pushed the knowledge of her arousal to the back of her mind and continued with
laying down her rules. “Three, you will assume a respectful stance whenever I
enter the room.” A dark flushed burned the high masculine curve of his cheek.

“Permission to speak?” The three words sounded dragged from
the depths of his soul.

She repressed a grin and nodded regally. “Permission
granted.”

“What do you consider a respectful stance?”

Defiance practically dripped from the carefully phrased
question. She let it pass for now. “You will clasp your hands behind your neck
and widen your stance until your feet are spread farther apart than your
shoulders. Your gaze will remain lowered until I give you permission to meet my
eyes.” Anger, raw and pure, flashed in his golden gaze at the instructions.
Riana decided to push even harder. “If I command that you present yourself, you
will spread your feet apart as far as they will go, bend over from waist and,
using both hands, spread the cheeks of your ass so that I may see everything
that belongs to me.”

“Damned if I will!”

“You have now earned your second punishment.” She took a
step back. “Remove your tunic.”

His hands clenched at his sides. Riana lowered her voice
until it was whisper-soft. “If you make me tell you a second time, you will
receive a third, more severe punishment.” She kept her expression stern with an
effort, refusing to allow him to see her uncertainty. If he defied her on this,
used his strength to back that refusal, she would lose. She wasn’t a fool. She
knew the only thing that had kept him in line up until now was his word. He’d
rather die than break it. The question was, could she make him want to submit
more than he wanted to defy her?

Not knowing the answer dried her mouth to the point she couldn’t
swallow and caused the blood in her veins to move with a slow, heavy pulse.

His hands went to the hem of the sheer tunic.

Her knees went weak with relief. Her gaze was drawn to his
erection. Despite his very real fury with her demands, he swelled even more and
a drop of pre-come clung to the small slit.

She ached to taste it.

Instead, she moved over and sat on the bed. “Across my lap.”
Shoulders stiff, his movement lacking his usual warrior’s grace, he laid
himself across her thighs, resentment in every taut line of his back.

Riana took a moment to admire the breadth of his shoulders,
the flex and play of work-hardened muscles, and the involuntary clenching of
his buttocks. She smoothed one palm over the tight curve. The impulse to sink
her teeth into that firm muscle, to taste him, made her withdraw her hand and
fist it.

Keep your mind on the goal, his surrender.

“Do you know why I am going to spank you?”

“Because I spoke without permission, Supreme Chief.”

The man had truly managed to turn those two, tiny words into
the ultimate insult. She smacked his butt, hard enough to sting but not hurt,
to show she was aware of what he was doing. “Correct.” Without warning, she
started to spank him. Each blow was seemingly random placed. Some were harder
than others, but always the intensity increased.

His cock jumped against his thigh and he buried his hands
into the spidersilk comforter. Several minutes later, his ass was bright red
and there was a growing wet spot on her thigh. Her free hand rested on his back
and she could feel the thunder of his heartbeat. He was close to coming.

She stopped.

He shifted and for a moment she thought he might protest.
“You may get up now.” His head spun around and she read shocked disappointment
on his face before his expression hardened as he rolled to his feet.

Oh yes. The man understood exactly what the real punishment
was going to be. Riana stood, smoothed her skirt and walked to the door. Once
there, she glanced back.

“You may return to your duties.”

* * * * *

“Darias?”

“What?” he barked, turning to glare at Gaith as the other
man approached. His mood was foul. His ass still stung with an irritating
persistence while his cock refused to believe it wasn’t going to be buried in
Riana’s hot depths.

Not that he blamed it. He was having trouble believing it
himself.

“We have a problem.” Gaith shifted, his gaze somewhere over
Darias’ left shoulder. Obviously his First knew of the punishment and was
trying to spare him.

An equal amount of embarrassment and fury stiffened his
features. Riana would pay for his shame. He shoved his chagrin away and glanced
about them. Several people were in earshot. He motioned for Gaith to precede
him into an empty room. Pulling out a chair, he straddled it, allowing no sign
of his discomfort to show. He nodded his head. “Sit.”

Gaith’s swarthy skin darkened and he stared at the wall.
“I’ll stand.”

Darias looked closer. The other man shuffled his feet and
couldn’t quite hide his wince. A muscle in his jaw twitched and even more color
seeped into his cheeks.

The signs were familiar.

A muscle began to jerk in his jaw. The woman was infecting
the other women with her offworlder ways. With an effort, he brought his
attention back to the matter at hand.

“What is the problem?”

“They discovered our stealth program.”

“Did punishment have anything to do with that discovery?”

“No.”

“Do they understand the program is designed to copy then
corrupt certain files?”

“Yes.”

He ran his hand through his hair. “Krel. Can the day get any
worse?”

Gaith met his gaze squarely. “Bryta knows I planted the
program.”

Darias went very still. “And?”

“Public punishment tonight.”

Darias exploded out of the chair. “No. You were under my
orders.”

“You can’t stop punishment.” He sounded resigned, and that
infuriated Darias even more.