It almost hurt more when it stopped.
Her rear was throbbing and hot. It felt like welts had formed on it. She didn’t dare roll over, for fear of what it would feel like when her ass touched the ground. She heard him sink to his knees behind her.
He put a palm against her hot flesh.
She sucked in a breath between her teeth and winced.
“Quiet,” he ordered. The sound of a branch being split broke the silence between them. He spat.
She heard the softswishof his palms rubbing together.
He pressed one against her burning bottom. The pain flared momentarily but was followed by the most cooling, soothing feeling.
He covered her backside with what felt like some sort of poultice.
Royla sighed, relieved at his mercy. Had he not helped her, she never would have been able to sleep.
His eyes drank in her body as he rolled her over. He reached down and tugged at her restraints, making sure they were still secure. Satisfied, he reached over and broke another piece of the branch he’d brought back and dropped on the ground: a small piece, about two fingers’ length.
Affixing another woven bit of twine to one end, he pressed the twig against her lips.
She opened her mouth.
He pushed it in until her lips were spread, wrapped the twine around the back of her head, then tied it to the other end of the stick. “Suck,” he commanded. “It will sate your hunger until I can hunt in the morning.”
Royla was now not only bound but gagged. If she hadn’t been before, she was now utterly at his mercy. There was only one thing she could do: obey. She dragged her tongue along the bark and sucked, as he’d ordered.
The taste of lemon-fruit spread along her tongue. After she’d swallowed a few times, the hunger that had been hollowing out her belly subsided. A very pleasant sleepy feeling overcame her, her eyelids beginning to flutter shut. They snapped open as she felt his fingers on her chin. She looked up to see his dark gaze boring into her. “Do not try to escape again. Or I will not be so kind with my correction,” he growled.
Royla nodded her understanding.
A few moments later she was stuffed into the small space, bound and gagged, but with Master’s slab of a back protecting her from the night and all the dangers that it held.
* * *
She woke to the sounds of birds chirping in the trees. Those first few moments of consciousness were a gift of innocence. Then the memory of what had happened the day before stabbed through her, jolting her wide awake.
She was alone in the cave.
She tried to move her arms and legs, but they were stilltied fast. Tighter even, it seemed, than they had been the night before. The stick gag was still in her mouth, drool caked along her cheek from sleeping with it in.
Her mind began to race. Where was he? Why had he left her there? A panic rushed through her. What if he didn’t come back?
She tugged at her restraints, desperate to make them give. The idea that she might die of hunger there, or worse, be eaten alive by a windhawk or hinterbear, brought tears to her eyes.
Her body stiffened at the sound of footsteps outside. She didn’t dare draw a breath. She closed her eyes and waited for her fate, unable to face what it might bring.
Something fell with a hard thud just outside the cave.
Battling her fear, Royla opened one eye and dared to peek and see what it was. Relief washed over her as she saw the hard muscles of his tree-trunk legs, then the thick cock that hung between them.
When he bent down to look inside, she opened both her eyes and stared at him, begging to be set free.
Master crawled inside on his hands and knees. He twisted out the knots in the rope, his fingers surprisingly nimble. He pulled the twine off her head and took the stick out of her mouth, then pulled her up until she was sitting.
Royla watched him, then looked up and into his eyes. They danced between hers and her lips. A strange sensation overcame her. She felt the urge to lean forward, to... tokisshim.
What is happening to me?
