I shook my head wordlessly, eyes wide. I wanted to convey to him that I didn’t think of him that way at all, but the tightness around his mouth indicated his self-disgust. He believed what Dante was saying about him, about our wedding night.
But it hadn’t been like that. Had it?
No. Luca had made sure that I felt pleasure when he claimed me for the first time.
Just like Dante always forced me to feel pleasure when he toyed with me.
My lower lip quivered, and I bit it hard to keep from crying. The monster was getting in my head just as much as he was messing with Luca.
Cool leather caressed my bottom, and I jolted at the sudden sensation of the belt on my bare skin. Dante wrapped a strong arm around my waist, directing me to arch my lower back and offer myself up for punishment.
I pressed my forehead against the bars, bracing myself for pain. I’d chosen this. I’d decided to spare Luca’s friends by taking the punishment in their stead.
I could endure it. I was strong enough to handle it. I had to be.
Fire lashed across my bottom, and a scream tore from my chest. I was dimly aware of Luca’s answering bellow of pain as I rocked up onto my toes, moving away from the belt. Two more searing hits burned into my tender flesh, driving all the air from my lungs before I could cry out again.
Dante’s calloused fingertips trailed along the marks, tracing them. My skin tingled and danced beneath his whisper-soft touch, my nerves crackling from the whipping.
“So pretty,” he rumbled, his fingers dipping between my legs.
I tried to squirm away from the erotic stimulation I knew was coming, but he cupped my sex in his big hand and forced me back in position with his firm grip on my most intimate area. Keeping me locked in that unyielding hold, he rotated his fingers against my clit.
For a few merciful seconds, my body didn’t respond, my senses too consumed by the burning pain on my bottom to feel arousal.
His warm breath fanned my neck as he whispered in my ear. “Don’t fight me, pet. It will only be harder for you if you try.”
I drew in a shuddering breath and focused on Luca. His eyes were wild, his teeth bared like a cornered animal. But he hadn’t moved, as though his palms were glued to the wall. He was obeying Dante’s commands, sacrificing more of his pride to spare his friends. Our captor was slowly crushing his will, forcing him to bend to his insane desires.
I stared into his shining eyes, trying to convey my resolve. I could take this torment. We would both endure, and we’d get out of here together with our sanity intact. Somehow.
Dante continued stimulating my clit, ruthlessly coaxing pleasure from my body. I shuddered at the first ripple through my system, a warm, tingling wave. I kept my gaze locked on Luca’s, focusing only on him. I pretended it was his hand on my sex, his powerful body pressed against mine.
Dante clicked his tongue at me, as though he sensed what I was doing. “I’m your master, little bird. Not him. You belong to me.”
A tremor raced over my skin. He’d tried to force me to accept him as my master before. I’d refused to say the words.
I gritted my teeth against voicing the lie. If I said it aloud, I feared that the truth of it might work its way into my soul.
Cool air kissed my side when he stepped away, immediately followed by another lash of fire across my bottom. My head dropped back on a shriek, but he didn’t relent. Four more blows landed, the last catching my sensitive upper thighs. I yanked against the tie that bound me to the bars, desperate to escape the burning pain.
But another hit didn’t come. Dante’s fingertips circled my clit, and pleasure crackled through me. I released a sound that was somewhere between a moan and a whimper.
He nuzzled my hair. “You’re doing so well, darling. So beautiful bearing my marks.”
I fixed my gaze on Luca, taking in every tense line of his face. Even when his features were drawn tight with pain and loathing, he was ruggedly handsome: the man I’d secretly desired for years before he’d married me.
No matter what Dante said, I didn’t belong to him. Luca was my real husband.
The monster continued to stimulate me, rubbing my clit in a demanding rhythm. The smooth sensation of the belt caressed between my legs. The scent of leather and my own arousal suffused my senses when he touched it to my lips, painting them with the shameful evidence of my lustful response to his masterful manipulations.
“You’re wet for me,” he rumbled, his voice rich with satisfaction. He licked the belt and released a low hum. “You taste so good, pet.”
I shivered at the perverse act, but bliss sang through my veins when he eased a finger inside my slick folds and crooked it against my g-spot. His thumb pressed down on my clit at the same time, and I bucked at the sudden rush of ecstasy. He stimulated me mercilessly, driving me closer to the edge, until I was so close to release.
A humiliating cry of protest slipped from me when he abruptly withdrew. It morphed into a scream as fire lit up my bottom once again. I lost track of how many times he lashed me, dizzy from the sudden shift from pleasure to pain. My screams rang through the basement, blending with Luca’s desperate, wordless shouts in a violent crescendo.
The hits stopped, but my skin was still hot with stinging pain. I hissed when Dante’s palm skimmed over my abused flesh before he touched me between my legs again. He played me like I was his favorite instrument, coaxing pleasure from my core once again, until it fizzed through my veins and flooded my mind.
