Deathless Love (16 page)

“Please, Dom!” she was starting to panic. “Stop! Please!” Fear had welled up in her. She couldn't possibly take any more, she was sure of it. And he was so angry, he was sure to overdo it. And that wasn't even considering his vampire strength.
Oh God
, were his fangs out? He'd warned her to be careful of him when he was angry. She was flipping out completely. She reached a hand back to block the spoon and felt Dom's body jerk in response. He snatched her wrist and pinned it behind her back.

“Do
not
reach, Kate! I could break your fingers that way.” Then he gave her five of the hardest spanks she had ever felt. She screamed bloody murder the whole time, trying in vain to get free of his merciless hold.

He lifted her abruptly onto her feet, then and rubbed her bottom. She was completely agitated and confused. “Go stand in the corner. I think you need a break,” he said in the most ordinary tone, as if he hadn't just spanked the living daylights out of her.
Please say that was enough,
she prayed.

He'd learned these things from the damn blogs. Warm ups and corner times and giving a break. She started to rub her bottom and then stopped abruptly and peeked back at him. That was something that wasn't allowed, according to many “heads of households” on the blogs. But then she realized he couldn't see her anyway. She leaned her head into the corner, sobbing and rubbing her blazing bottom.

“Where is your bag?” he asked her.

She was too confused to even know what he meant. She peeked to see him feeling around on the dresser for her purse. She kicked at the wall. She felt so bad about herself at that moment. She banged her head on the wall a few times.

“
Stop that
.” Dom barked. She jumped and turned around. He walked over to her and took her shoulders. “Calm down, Kate,” he said sternly.

Her bag was on his shoulder and he turned to it now, and reached into it. She stared at him dumbly, shifting from foot to foot as if she might somehow alleviate the burn she was feeling. After a moment, his hand emerged with her flower essences. He unscrewed the top and held the dropper out to her, blinking rapidly, his eyes trying to focus. She took his wrist and guided it over her open mouth and then made an “o.k.” sound. He squirted a dropperful into her mouth and then another into his own. She couldn't have been more surprised that he would remember the flower essences and think to administer them now.

She looked at the bed and saw he had stacked the pillows in a pile while she was in the corner, and the belt was lying next to them. She felt the anxiety welling up in her again. “Dom,” she pleaded through her tears. “Dom,
please
. Please don't be angry with me. I'm
so
sorry.”

The banging of her head against the wall had really thrown him. He realized with a bit of a shock that the reason Kate couldn't calm her emotions was because of his own. He'd been prickly and irritated with her and she was absolutely freaking out. He could feel guilt and fear and agitation radiating from her. He took a deep breath and exhaled, listening into how his body reacted to the flower essences. It really was powerful stuff.

“Kate,” he said in a much more gentle voice. “
Bambina
. It's okay. I'm sorry I seemed angry. I'm not.”

He could feel her resistance to that and he said it again. “I'm
not
angry. I promise you. I admit that I was irritated, but I've already let it go. I got it out with the wooden spoon.” He reached back and rubbed her backside. He scooped her into his arms and walked to the bed, banging his shin against it despite his efforts to feel with his legs. He sat down and cradled her in his arms.

“You made a mistake. It happens. I'm going to punish you for it and all will be forgiven. And then I will never mention it again.”

She nodded tearfully into his neck. He rubbed her back. They sat that way for a few minutes and her breath started to calm.

“I'm scared,” she admitted in a small voice.

His heart lurched. He kissed her head. “I know you are,
bambina.
But you can trust me. Yours isn't the first bottom I've whipped in my life,” he said, patting her backside softly.

She nodded. “Okay.”

“Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she squeaked.

He stood her up and got to his own feet. “Lie over those pillows there,” he said, waving his hand in the general direction of the stack. He was starting to be able to make out shadows now, which was a great improvement to the searing white light that had been floating in his visual field.

He heard her obey and he picked up the belt. He blinked at her form, trying to take in the shape. Actually, whipping someone blind was
not
in his repertoire. What had he been thinking? Spanking with her over his lap had been easy because her body was so close to his that he knew where everything lay. But this position?

He reached out his hand to verify that she was lying exactly as he thought she was. He found the two dimples at the back of her pelvis. He traced lower to find the top of her butt crack. “If I strike you here or higher I want you to say the words 'too high'.
Capiche
?”

“
Capiche,
” she agreed.

He brought his hand down past where the butt meets thigh. “If I strike you here or lower you will say 'too low'. Got it?”

“Yes.”

He took a deep breath and held the intent that he would deliver each stroke exactly where he meant to and began. The slap of leather on flesh was loud, and her cries were even louder. It pained him to hurt her. There was nothing sexy about this spanking.

He gave her fifty strokes—enough to make it memorable for the next day or two. He couldn't tell how they colored her skin. She didn't scream this time—the cuddle they'd had had settled her into her punishment. She lay submissively, crying hard, but not moving. She did croak “too low” once but he'd been aiming for the juncture between her bottom and thighs, so he didn't worry. When he finished, he scooped her off and climbed to the head of the bed, leaned back against the headboard and cuddled her in his arms.

“I'm sorry I scared you,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “I didn't mean to.”

She buried her face into his neck, her salty tears stinging his sensitive skin. Her arms were tangled around his neck tightly. She kissed his neck and then laid her head on his shoulder. He stroked her back and kissed her hair. “I love you,
piccolina
,” he murmured. He felt a jolt of a reaction from her that felt almost like fear—a shock—followed immediately by an enormous wave of gratitude and love. Her arms tightened even more around his neck until he had to say, “Easy,
bambina
. My skin is sore.”

“Oh God!” she exclaimed, releasing her hold on his neck completely. She sat back from him and brushed her fingers on the hot skin of his face. “I'm so sorry,” she whispered.

“It's forgiven. Completely.”

“Say it again?” she whispered. At first he thought she meant to repeat that she was forgiven, but then he realized.

“I love you, Kate,” he said, cradling her head in his hands as if to look into her eyes, if only he could. “I love you.”

Chapter Nine

Fox heard Kate screaming and he flashed to the doorway to Dom's stairs. Stella arrived a second before him, blocking the way. He was in full defense mode, his fangs starting to elongate. He didn't know where Dom got off, but hurting Kate was not something he would ever allow.

“This is between the two of them, Fox,” Stella coaxed, taking his arm.

He pulled away. “The hell it is,” he snarled.

“Listen to me,” she said, her face very close to his. “Kate likes to be spanked.”

She let that sink in as he shook his head in denial. “She's not liking it now,” he said grimly.

“I know, but it's what they do. It's how it's gone down with them from the very start. Trust me—I was there. I saw them the first time he spanked her—remember? Up in the office that night?”

He didn't answer.

“So that's the way Kate likes it. And Dom likes giving it to her. And that means it's how they're going to resolve their conflicts, too.”

He hesitated. He remembered that morning Kate had been playing guitar with him and he'd smelled both fear and arousal on her when Dom came to find her. Could Stella be right? Maybe. But if not—if Dom was hurting Kate against her will and he did nothing to stop it…

“Look at me. I'm telling you the truth.” Stella was inches away from his face, right up in his grill. Technically, as his maker, she had the power to keep him from interfering. But she never exercised that over him. “Fox. It's between the two of them. Do you really think Dom would hurt her?”

“He's hurting her right now!” he snapped, but he'd already lost his drive and she knew it.

“Believe me, a sore butt never hurt anyone,” Stella said drily and he suddenly had an image of Dom spanking Stella.
Yeck.
He shook his head to get the image out. Stella was smirking at him as if she knew what he'd been thinking. “Come on, Kate made us sandwiches. They're in the kitchen.”

He followed Stella reluctantly back to the kitchen and sat down to eat the sandwich. He tried not to think about what exactly Dom might be doing. But the more he thought about it, the more Stella's words seemed to make sense. Dom was crazy about Kate. He definitely wouldn't do anything she wouldn't consent to.

It seemed strange to think of Dom spanking anyone. In the entire time he'd spent with Dom as a boy, Dom had never laid a hand on him. Maybe he knew that Fox had already been knocked around enough. He certainly had demanded Fox's complete respect and his very best, but it was always through love.

He remembered once he'd come back to Dom's house beaten by one of the men Dom did business with. The man was a whoremaster. He never knew what business they had together, but he'd been delivering a message for Dom and had accidentally spilled the man's ale because he'd been so startled to see topless women milling about. The whoremaster had beaten him for ogling the women and spilling the drink.

He'd been ashamed. He wasn't going to tell Dom, but of course, Dom could smell his pain the moment he walked in the door and demanded to know what had happened. As soon as it was dark out, Dom had stormed in and kicked the shit out of the guy, disarming and taking down at least five men who were supposed to be providing security. Before he was done, he forced the whoremaster to apologize to
him
, a mere street urchin message boy.

Dom had then spoken to all the whores and customers who had gathered to take in the scene. “You tell everyone that this boy belongs to Dominic DeParma. Anyone who touches him, answers to me.” With that, he put his hand on Fox's shoulder and they left.

There were a few more challenges after that, because not everyone heard about the whoremaster's fate, and every time he was harmed or disrespected, Dom intervened with an animal-like ferocity. By the end of that year, it was hard to remember that he had once skulked about the streets. He was clean, well-fed and well-dressed. Though he was only a boy of ten, the working women and the whoremasters of Covent Garden tipped their hats or nodded politely at him when he walked by. The tavern owners poured him a pint of ale or, those who knew him better, a glass of milk, when he came in. When he made visits to conduct Dom's business, he was received with hospitality.

It was not until he was turned that Dom ever used any force with him. Once he was a vampire it was a little different. Vampires are more like animals. They show dominance to establish pecking order. Dom could freeze him in his skin, or knock the wind out of his chest with a flick of his hand. And he did it anytime Fox showed disrespect. It was custom, it seemed.

He heard the door to Dom's stairs open and Kate emerged, tucked tightly under Dom's arm. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she looked relaxed and almost blissful, as if she'd just had great sex. He shuddered a bit, not wanting to know what their sex life looked like.

Kate drew in a breath and then said, “Stella, Fox, I'm really sorry. I know I put you both in great danger today by leaving the shutters open and I just want you to know that it will never happen again.”

He and Stella both stood up from the kitchen table. “You could have killed Dom, you know,” Stella said, clearly not letting Kate off the hook. He shouldn't have been surprised that Stella would feel as protective of Dom as he did of Kate.

“Enough.” Dom said immediately.

“I just want to know what you're going to do to ensure it doesn't happen again,” Stella demanded, folding her arms across her chest.

“I'm not going to touch the shutters again,” Kate said firmly. “If I need sunlight, I will go outside and shut the door behind me. And knock before I open it to come in,” she added.

Stella nodded. He pulled Kate away from Dom and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. “It's okay, kid,” he said softly into her hair.

“Thanks, Fox,” she whispered.

“Are you hungry?” Dom asked Kate, solicitously.

“No, not really,” she said.

“Well, I'm certainly not up for leaving the house tonight. How about if we hole up and watch movies tonight?” he suggested to Kate.

“But you can't even see!” she exclaimed.

“That's okay. You can watch and I'll cuddle you.”

Cuddle you?
Fox was in complete shock to hear Dominic “I am an island” DeParma, speak with such tender intimacy. And in front of him and Stella, even. He could admit Stella had been right to stop him from barging in on whatever it was that had been going on between them. Obviously it worked quite well for them.

* * *

It was true what she'd read about punishment spankings on the blogs. She did feel cleansed of guilt. And Dom had said he'd released his irritation completely. The closeness she felt with him now was amazing.

They were curled up on his bed, watching her favorite movie,
Shakespeare in Love
. Well, she was watching and Dom was holding her. She reached down and ran her hand lightly over her welted skin. She was wearing nothing but one of Dom's t-shirts, because even the idea of panties over her sore buns sounded painful. The thought of him punishing her made her shiver a little. He'd been the perfect dominant, as far as she was concerned. Holding and comforting her when she was scared but still firmly insisting on her punishment.