Mastered By Love (29 page)

Dario twisted in his
saddle. “What?”

Shadow grinned. “Many of my
people enjoy this game, yet they don’t enslave their
lovers.”

“
I thought you didn’t have
any women anymore.”

“
We have very few. That’s
why so many of us have taken males as lovers.”

“
Oh.” His face flamed, the
blush almost painful in the icy winter air.

The Demon Kin laughed. “You
should see your face. I take it such arrangements are forbidden on
Argelia?”

“
In Saturnios, yes. I hear
Concordian women take other women, and I’m not sure what the custom
is elsewhere.” He was still blushing. Had Tariza a
girlfriend?

“
We’d welcome you on
Belleren,” the Demon Kin continued. “Especially if Tariza was
willing to conceive at least one Demon Kin child. In vitro, of
course. We need all the help we can get.”

“
I didn’t know humans could
carry Demon Kin babies.”

“
Oh, yes. We’re very
compatible with humans.”

“
Could Miri bear your
child?”

“
I hope so.” Shadow gave
him a grim look. “If she hasn’t been damaged too badly.”

“
I hate what he did to her.
I should have gotten her away from him.”

“
There isn’t much you could
do against the king.”

Well. That was true, given
his relationship to the man. At least he’d kept Tariza away from
the old brute.

“
Think about what I said.
On Belleren, you would be free to create whatever sort of
relationship you want.”

“
I’ll think about it,”
Dario said. Only it would mean giving up his family and everything
he’d ever known.

Could he do it? Could he
abandon Mateo in favor of Tariza?

***

Mateo made
her wear a muzzle. The thing was made from glossy
red leather and had a tight strap that went beneath her jaw,
keeping her mouth shut. In addition to the muzzle, she had a
matching red harness that outlined her breasts with loops of
leather.

He grinned as he gazed down
at her, his eyes gleaming in satisfaction. “That ought to keep you
from mouthing off. I think this will be an important lesson in
humility for you.”

Her first instinct was to
glare at him. She curbed it, taking long deep breaths to regulate
herself. Glaring or making any other sign of dissatisfaction would
result in a beating. He’d already given her two.

They hadn’t been as awful
as what Grasos had done, but they’d been bad enough. Worse than
anything Dario had done to her. She most definitely didn’t want
another.

The door to Mateo’s rooms
opened and two men she didn’t recognize came in. They were around
Mateo’s age – in their early thirties – and both were grinning as
broadly as Mateo, their gazes hot as they stared at her. To her
shame, her body responded eagerly to the attention, a flood of
cream dampening her pussy.

“
Is that her?” said the
blond one.

“
It is,” Mateo
answered.

The blond walked up to her,
his gaze traveling over her body and lingering on her breasts and
the apex of her thighs. “She’s a beauty.”

“
Bad attitude, though,”
Mateo said.

“
Well.” The blond cupped
her breast. “We’ll have to see what we can do about
that.”

His thumb rubbed across the
point of her nipple, sending a jolt of pleasure through her and
making it bead up. It wasn’t right that he could do such a thing to
her. She belonged to Dario.

Dario gave you to Mateo.
He gave you away.

Her Master didn’t want her
anymore, and all she could think of was how she was betraying him
by responding to these other men. She was truly
hopeless.

“
She seems docile enough,”
the blond’s companion said. He had mousy brown hair and a heavily
muscled physique.

“
She’s improved since I got
hold of her,” Mateo said, winking.

The blond bent his head and took her
nipple into his mouth. Behind the muzzle, Tariza gasped. He suckled
hard, and darts of pain and pleasure shot rhythmically from her
nipple to her cunt. She moaned low in her throat. The blond
chuckled against her flesh as he continued to suckle her, his arm
coming around her back to keep her steady.

“
She’s responsive,” the
brown-haired man said.

“
That she is,” Mateo
said.

“
I want to taste
her.”

The blond lifted his head
from her breast and grinned at his friend. “In a moment.” He lifted
her onto the bed. “Spread your legs and let us have a look at your
pussy.”

Tariza glanced at Mateo. Was he really
going to make her do this? He frowned at her, tapping the crop he
held against his thigh. Yes, he was really going to make her do it.
She closed her eyes to shut out awareness of the men and spread her
legs.

“
Look at us, Tariza,” Mateo
said. “We want you to see us examining you.”

Damn him. She opened her eyes. All
three of them were staring at her sex, their lips parted, eyes dark
with lust. Her pussy throbbed at the look on their faces. She
wanted them, hated them.

The brown-haired one fell
to his knees in front of her. “I can’t wait anymore.”

He lowered his head to her pussy. His
tongue swept out and lapped at her. Tariza gasped again. She wanted
to belong only to Dario, to respond only to him. But Mateo stood
there threatening her with his crop and Brown-hair grasped her
firmly by the thighs as he tongued her.

“
Damn, she tastes good,” he
muttered.

“
Let me have a turn,” the
blond said.

Grumbling, Brown-hair moved
over and the blond took his place. His mouth was even more
insistent, more invading than his friend’s. He shoved his tongue
into her sheath, making her cry out even with her mouth clamped
shut. Then he swirled his tongue around her clit and suckled,
sending her into a violent orgasm.

All three men laughed.

“
She was wasted in
Concordia,” Mateo said.

“
Can I fuck her?” the blond
said hoarsely.

“
Go ahead.”

He fumbled urgently at his
trousers until he freed his cock, which was so hard it looked
purple. Kneeling on the bed, he positioned himself and thrust into
her with no preliminaries. “God damn,” he said. “I’ve always wanted
to fuck a Concordian.”

The blond pounded her
mercilessly, without finesse, all male power and lust, grunting
with effort. He grasped her wrists, pinning them over her head,
holding her down, his weight pressing into her. She couldn’t move,
could only take what he did to her.

“
Come, damn you,” he
growled, reaching between their bodies to finger her
clit.

Another orgasm slammed through her,
making her eyes roll up in her head. Her fingers curled into claws
at the painful release, tears gathering in her eyes. The blond
roared. Hot jets of come filled her.

As soon as his orgasm
finished, he withdrew from her body and got to his feet, grinning
again. “Good fuck, Mateo. Really good.”

Tariza closed her legs.

“
No,” Mateo said. “Leave
them open. We want to see.”

She licked her lips,
hesitating.

Instead of waiting for her
to obey, he reached down and shoved her legs apart. “That’s more
like it. We want to see all that come dripping out of
you.”

“
I want her now,” said
Brown-hair.

Mateo gestured graciously
toward her. “You’re the guest.”

Brown-hair grabbed her by
the ankles and jerked her off the bed. He turned her face-down and
shoved her torso into the mattress. “Spread again.”

She obeyed. Brown-hair shoved his cock
into her so fast and hard that she moaned in her throat. The sound
emerged, muffled, from the contraption on her face.

“
That’s it, girl. Make
noise for me,” he said.

He moved more slowly than
the blond, groaning as he fucked her. His cock felt bigger, too,
stretching her impossibly wide even though she was thoroughly wet
from the other man’s depredations.

Her ass was tilted in the air,
vulnerable and exposed, on display, as Brown-hair pumped his cock
in and out of her body. He cupped her breast and tweaked her nipple
as his hips continued their steady rhythm, as he groaned
continuously. Another release bloomed in her core, and Tariza
moaned.

Brown-hair’s fingers dug
into her hips. His thrusts became sporadic, uneven. He shouted
something incoherent and another flood of hot moisture filled her
cunt.

He was just pulling out of
her when Mateo’s door opened with a soft click. Tariza turned her
head in time to see Dario enter the room. He was here!

Oh, shit, he’s
here.
Her heart began to race with a
bewildering mix of joy at his return and shame that he would see
her this way.

He stared at them, blinking for an
instant. Then a ferocious glare came over his face.

“
What
the hell are you doing with my woman?” he said in a deadly
voice.

Tariza willed
herself not to stare at Dario.
His woman.
That’s what he’d called
her. Her heart raced even faster.

“
Using her,” Mateo said.
“What does it look like?”

Dario stalked toward them.
“I told you she was for you only. Not your friends.”

Brown-hair moved away from her and
Tariza scrambled up onto the bed. She yanked the coverlet around
herself, without knowing whether she was hiding from Dario or the
others.

Dario glared from one man
to the next. “I never gave my permission for this.”

Brown-hair held up his
hands. His cock was still out, glistening with moisture from her
body, his trousers around his ankles. “We didn’t know. Mateo
invited us.”

Dario advanced on his
brother. “I asked you to protect her.”

“
And I have.”

“
Like this?” Dario shouted.
“You know I don’t share her.”

“
Dario, you gave her into
my keeping,” Mateo said in a reasonable tone. “Traditionally that
means I get the use of her, as do any of my guests. If you wanted
something different, you should have said so.”

Dario’s jaw worked, his big
body trembling. He looked like he was about to explode. “Damn you,
Mateo. You knew this wasn’t what I wanted for her.”

“
I’m not a mind reader,
brother.” Mateo’s voice rose.

“
If you weren’t the crown
prince, I’d beat the shit out of you.”

“
Don’t let my rank stop
you,” Mateo spat.

“
Maybe I won’t. Right now,
I want to get her out of here.” Dario stalked to the bed and
gathered her up, coverlet and all.

He was angry on her behalf.
That must mean he still cared about her, that he hadn’t rejected
her after all. She let her head fall to the side to rest against
his shoulder. Dario glanced down at her, his eyes
widening.

“
You muzzled her?” He shot
another glare at Mateo. “What is wrong with you?”

“
I don’t spoil my girls.
You know that.”

“
So I spoil her because I
don’t tie her jaw shut?” Dario growled.

“
Her behavior has much
improved. You should try the muzzle. It’s very
effective.”

“
I think you’re the one who
needs a muzzle.”

He bore her from the room and down the
hallway in long strides, then carried her into his quarters and sat
down in a chair with her in his lap. Immediately he fumbled with
the buckles on the muzzle, pulling it off her and tossing it to the
floor. With his fingertips, he rubbed the marks it had left on her
skin.

“
I’m sorry,” he said. “None
of that should have happened.”

She must remain strong. The
fact he’d returned didn’t mean anything about their relationship
had changed. “You gave me to him.”

“
To protect, not to pass
around.” He brushed some hair out of her eyes. “Are you all
right?”

“
I am
uninjured.”

Dario frowned. “Are you
sure?”

“
Yes.”

“
You don’t look well. You
have circles under your eyes.”

“
I’m sorry I fail to please
you, Master.”

“
Tariza, don’t be like
that.”

She sighed. “I’m not used
to sleeping on the floor.”

“
Is that where he put
you?”

“
Yes.”

“
Damn.” His thumb traced
the curve of her lower lip. “I guess I should have taken you with
me after all.”

She said nothing.

Dario pressed a brief kiss
to her lips. “I have a meeting to attend, so I have to leave you
here for a while. We’ll talk about this later, all
right?”