The Dom's Dungeon (9 page)

“I thought
I could get back before you returned.”

“How did
you know where the bathroom is?”

“The other
sub told me.”

“Describe
her to me,
MacKensie
.” Alex's eyes had turned the
color of polar ice.

“Brunette.
Beautiful.” Mac closed her eyes, trying to remember. “Tall. She looks like a
model.
A dark red corset thing.”

“That who
you talked with?” the dungeon monitor asked Steel.

“Nah.
I'd
remember someone like that.” Steel pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to
the monitor. “A barmaid gave me this. It spells it all out.
Even
safe words and gestures.
She didn't use either.”

The
monitor glanced at Mac. “What's your safe word?”

Safe word?
She
looked up at Alex and whispered, “What's a safe word?”

“Fuck me,”
Steel exploded. “How the hell can
she
not—”

“She's so
new to the scene that she should be glowing green,” Alex said. “We haven't even
done anything that would require a safe word.”

A noise
came from Steel, a grating sound as his teeth clenched. “Did she—
Did
you—Hell.
Permission to speak to your
sub?”

Alex
snorted.
“Granted.”

When Steel
leaned forward, Mac couldn't help but cringe back, her bare feet scrambling
uselessly on the couch. Alex's arms tightened, trapping her on his lap.

Steel
winced, and his face turned to concrete. “You didn't want this at all, did
you?”

Mac shook
her head as the shaking started again. She shoved her face in the hollow of
Alex's shoulder.

“Girl,
look at me.”

Silence.
The
men waited.
For her.

Okay, Mac, show a few guts. Suck it up and handle it
. Her
fingers ached from her grip on Alex's shirt, but she managed to turn.

To her
surprise, Steel looked more tired than terrifying as he said, “A safe word is a
word not usually used in everyday talk, and if a sub uses it, everything stops.
A gesture is used if the sub is gagged. If you'd used either, I'd have stopped.
Right then.”
He rubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck.
Since you didn't know about them, you wouldn't use them. I'm sorry, girl.”

He fished
a card out of his pocket and handed it to the monitor. “If you catch the
asshole
who
did this, I'll be pleased to do anything
needed to take him down.
Very pleased.”
He handed one
to Alex. “If there's anything I can do to help her or you, call me.”

Catch the asshole?
Coldness ran up Mac's spine as
everything began to make sense. Someone had set her up to be whipped. Why?

“You got
any idea of who did this, Alex?” the monitor asked.

“Oh yes.
The trouble is, there's no proof,” Alex growled. “But I know. A sub wants
me—obsession-type
want
.”

The
dungeon monitor frowned. “You were with Cynthia last time I saw you here.
The society girl.”

Alex
nodded.

“Hell.”
The dungeon monitor glanced at the paper. “Drake's going to blow his stack when
he hears about this. But he'll investigate up one side and down another.
If the barmaid remembers anything…
But they're so busy
tonight, I'm not holding out much hope.”

“Do what
you can. I'll do the same.”

Alex could
barely control his rage as he carried
MacKensie
back
to the group. He considered leaving immediately, but letting her flee the club
would reinforce her fears, legitimate as they were. And she needed to face the
real assailant.

Dammit
. Although Cynthia should be arrested, no BDSM
club welcomed publicity, and few members would volunteer to testify.

Alex
settled in a chair, pulling Mac closer to him. He'd never felt such
satisfaction as when she had hurtled herself into his arms, knowing he'd protect
her.

Her
shivering had disappeared once Steel left. Tough little sub—his jaw tensed—who
had been hurt because of him.

“Sir?”
One of
the subs approached warily, her eyes wide.

Alex took
a breath to smother the anger and gave her a smile.

The sub
relaxed. “Sir, I have drinks for you and your sub.”

“Thank
you.” Alex nodded to the table beside the arm of the chair. “Right there,
please.”

The sub
obeyed and trotted away. Alex handed Mac the gin and tonic he'd ordered earlier
for her and picked up his scotch.

She
sipped, blinked, and sipped again. “I haven't had one of these since college,”
she said and actually smiled. Two more sips and she looked at him full in the
face. “Thanks for the rescue.
And for believing me.”

He nodded.
Such big brown eyes.
To see them filled with terror
and tears had seared his heart. A ball of anger still burned deep inside him,
one with no place to go.

“What are
you going to do about her?” she asked quietly. She glanced at Cynthia, who
knelt at Brian's feet two chairs down.

“If a witness
turns up, we'll look at prosecution. I'm going to talk with the management here
and at the other clubs.
And with the
Doms
.
She'll discover the BDSM world is smaller than she knows and a lot more
unfriendly.” He stroked
MacKensie's
golden hair. “I'm
sorry,
MacKensie
. Our lifestyle has many safeguards,
but none that could prevent this kind of end run around them.”

“Yeah, I
can see that.” She leaned her head against him. The gesture, now, when she
wasn't terrified, showed her trust in him had grown.

“Sir,
permission to speak?”

Alex
looked up at the sound of the smooth, rich voice. Cynthia knelt at his feet,
eyes downcast. He knew she wouldn't incriminate herself; she was a very smart
woman. But he'd see what she had to say. “Speak.”

“Master
Bob said you've taken that sub on for training, but I can see that you are not
intimate with her. I would be pleased to serve the needs that she can't.”
Cynthia opened her corset, letting her full breasts spill out. Tall and slender
and with those augmented breasts, Cynthia was a walking wet dream.
And in his case, a walking nightmare.

Alex
suppressed a growl. “I don't—”

Giving a
tiny duplication of his growl, Mac glared at Cynthia. “He doesn't need you, you
overbred cow; he has me.” And she grabbed his hand and shoved it between her
legs.

“Well,
now,” Alex murmured in a low rumble that sent nerves racing up Mac's arms.

Oh
frak
, what have I done?
Mac
froze, shocked at her own behavior.

Alex's
lips curved, and then he gave Cynthia a dismissive look. “I'm more than
adequately served. Leave.”

The sub
jerked back as if Alex had slapped her. Mac almost laughed as Cynthia stalked
away,
rehooking
her corset, heading toward the front
of the club. Apparently the Dom she'd accompanied had left.
Smart
man.

Suddenly Alex's
hand pressed against Mac's pussy. She jumped, her gaze shooting to his amused
eyes. His hand felt huge between her thighs, and hot against her bare labia.

“If you
keep rearranging our bargain,” he said, “I might not be able to keep up.”

“I…”
Trapped by his blue gaze, she couldn't find the right words to say.
I didn't want you to take her? I was
jealous? I wanted to be
mean
?
All of them were
true. “But…”

His eyes
crinkled. “You, little cat, do not have permission to speak.” He lifted his
hand from the juncture between her legs. “And you're not ready to be played
with down here…yet.” His fingers threaded through her hair, and he leaned
forward, tipping her back against the arm of the chair. Her gasp opened her
lips, but he didn't shove his tongue down her throat, didn't grab her breast.

Why hadn't
he groped her down there? She'd sure given him the chance.

Instead
his tongue traced over her lower lip in a teasing slide.
Then
the upper.
His mouth brushed against her cheek, her chin, her neck; his
lips were firm yet smooth. Not wet or sloppy at all.

When he
returned to her mouth, he nibbled her lower lip,
then
sucked on it lightly. Slanting his mouth across hers, he kissed her, his tongue
only caressing her lips, no further. He moved down her neck with tiny nips and
licks and kisses. She shivered when he bit the muscle at the top of her
shoulder, holding it between his teeth long enough to send goose bumps down her
arms. Back up, ever so slowly, and this time when he took her lips, she opened
to him, letting her tongue fence with his.

Never
sloppy.
He was even so careful that she wanted to push him a little. Her
tongue slid into his mouth, and suddenly his hand fisted in her hair, holding
her in place as he ravaged her mouth, the controlled violence shocking.

Exciting.

When he
pulled back and licked over her lips, she took a deep breath. The air felt as
if the temperature in the building had been raised too high. Then coolness
wafted over her chest. She stiffened, looking down. Her bustier lay open,
lacing undone, her breasts exposed.

Alex's arm
felt like iron under her back, and that hand still held her hair.
Held her trapped.
Without taking his eyes from hers, he
curved a big hand around her breast, his fingers hot against her skin. She
inhaled sharply at the unexpectedly erotic sensations shooting through her as
he caressed her. The surge of…of something inside her frightened her, and she
grasped his wrist and ripped her gaze from his.

“Look at
me,
MacKensie
,” he said, voice deepening. When her
eyes returned to his, he smiled slightly. “Good girl. Now let go of me, or I'll
restrain you.”

“You
wouldn't.”

But his
eyes didn't waver.

He would
. She forced her fingers to release his wrist.
“You promised. I'm not aroused,” she whispered. Fear curled inside her to join with
the unsettling tension, and an odd temptation to let him continue, to have his
hands…everywhere.

“You told
Cynthia you'd take care of me,” he whispered back. “Can you tolerate another
ten minutes of being fondled?”

She'd been
an idiot to offer herself instead of Cynthia, but he hadn't asked her to do
that. Her big mouth had run amok all by itself. Okay, ten minutes… What was
another person groping her anyway? At least she
liked
him as opposed to the others. She managed a short nod.

When the
sun lines at the corners of his eyes crinkled, and his eyes heated, a trickle
of worry crept into her. What could he do in ten minutes with just his hands?

She found
out exactly what he could do when his hand on her breast moved, and his fingers
circled one nipple, then the other, grazing over the bumpy areolae to the
jutting peaks. Peaks—her nipples were hard, and the room wasn't cold. Surely
she couldn't be aroused.

His index
finger circled one nub, around and around, until that nipple actually ached. He
did the other, and the feeling was… His fingers closed on one rigid peak,
rolling it gently,
then
giving it a small pinch that
sent a stab of excitement through her body and seemed to awaken nerves in her
pussy. A throbbing in her groin joined the throbbing in her nipples.

She
swallowed a moan as he alternated between her breasts, back and forth, pressing
the nipples hard, then harder, until each controlled pinch hurt and yet
increased the burning hunger inside her. A moan escaped her.

Satisfaction
glimmered in his eyes before he tightened the arm under her back, bringing her
breasts up to his mouth. His lips closed on one swollen nipple, and she found
out just what hot and wet really meant. His tongue swirled around the peak, and
suddenly she could almost feel it swirling on her clit; and then he sucked, a
gentle pull, then more forcefully. The other
breast
the same. And back, this time sucking, and suddenly, a slow, careful bite on
the peak.

“
Ahhhh
!”
Her fingers dug into his
shoulders in shock as electrifying sparks shot through her. Had that sound come
from her? She pushed against his chest, horrified. She never lost control like
that; she was a—Oh God, she wasn't a whore. Not anymore. Shame washed through
her, filling her until there remained no room for arousal.

He'd drawn
back when she stiffened. His sharp eyes considered her face, then her hands and
her breasts. “Why does being aroused scare you?” he asked softly.