When she looked up at him, a lusty shiver coursed through Thanred.
“What would you have me do, Master?” she whispered.
Thanred thought he might release again, purely from the question and her obedience. “Take it,” he growled. “Take it into your mouth.”
She did. Puckering, she pressed the finger into her mouth. Then she wrapped her lips around it and sucked as she pulled it slowly out. The tip emerged with a sticky wet sound, clean of his essence.
Thanred tore his eyes away from hers. A sudden jolt of... something foreign shocked him. He shook his head,trying to chase the feeling away. “Over there,” he grunted, pointing at the shelf at the back of the cave.
“Over there, Master?” Royla asked.
“That is where we will sleep.”
A moment later she was crawling on her hands and knees to the spot.
Thanred waited until she’d tucked her body into it. Then he, too, fell to his hands and knees. He put his back to her and wedged himself between the rock and the cold ground. His recent release was making his eyelids heavy. He let them close, feeling his sentience slipping away.
A tiny growl was followed by the sound of her voice. “Master?”
Thanred sucked in a quick breath as his eyes popped open. “What is it?” he snapped.
“Forgive me,” Royla said, her supplication properly conveyed by her tone. “But I am hungry.”
Thanred suppressed a groan. Of course, falling asleep then would have been too good to be true. He crawled out from beneath the shelf and dragged himself to his feet. He stared out into the now dark forest. A Dranark woman would never have woken her mate for something like this.
Still, he did not think of himself as a cruel creature. “Wait here,” he grumbled, stepping out into the cool night air. Just as he was about to wander deeper into the wood, something occurred to him.
He turned and walked back into the cave. It wasn’t long before he’d affixed the end of the leash around her ankles and wrists, tying them together and to her neck.
He walked out into the night in search of food.
Chapter Five
The moment Thanred disappeared from view, Royla began tugging at the ropes binding her. She twisted her arms, burning her skin against the rope. Then she pulled, trying to yank them out of the loops that held them.
When that failed, she lowered her head and tried to get a piece of the rope between her teeth. But it was just out of reach. She could almost touch it with the tip of her tongue but could not get her teeth around it.
Yet the whole time she was trying to free herself, she found herself wondering what she would do if she did? Would she creep out into the pitch-black woods, alone and unprotected? She’d always been told to stay out of the woods after dark. What if creatures, far more dangerous than the one that had enslaved her, waited there?
At one point she fell onto her back and rolled over to face the wall of the cave. Still struggling, she began tugging at her bindings, hoping they would give. She couldn’t tell how much time had passed when she, once again, felt his dark gaze on her back.
A shiver of fear raced down her spine. How long had he been there? Had he seen her? Did he know she’d been trying to escape?
His silence was deafening.
Her mouth dry, Royla licked her lips and lay still. “Master?” she finally whispered.
Footsteps crunched toward her along the ground. Something fell an arm’s length away. A citrusy smell tickled her senses.
“What are you doing?”
It was him.
Royla, still bound, shook her head. “Nothing, I was just...” The smack that landed on her bare ass was sharp and stung down to her toes. She yelped. Another came soon after, against her other cheek.
This wasn’t his palm. This had more bite to it. Like a stick, or a whip.
Blow after blow landed on her backside. Razors of pain shot through her body. She moaned, trying to keep quiet so she didn’t draw the interest of whatever was wandering through the night. As the pain compounded, her head began to feel light. A strange calm descended on her as she lay still, taking her punishment.
