“Only if you do.” I quipped back. As soon as I said it, I knew there would be a punishment. They already had me tied up in their kinky sex workshop and there was no way that Dom would let me get away with talking back, not that she ever did.
A sinister smirk took over her face as a stinging pain and a loudthwackradiated off my ass.
“Fuck!” I screamed out as my body jerked to stop whoever had spanked me. But the chains kept me in place.
Dom let out a deep breath. “These oaths are not conditional. Neither is what we’ve promised you.”
Protection. A lifetime of it. So long as I do my part.
Spencer appeared before me, my eyes darting to her hands looking for any sort of paddle. I knew it wasn’t a hand I’d felt on my skin. But hers were empty.
“Do you pledge your loyalty, to protect those before you as if you bleed the same blood?” Stopping in front of me, Spencer watched me closely. She was gentle with me, not one to use whips and chains to take me.
Nodding, I watched her move on.
Until my head swiveled to Leo’s hands, eyes catching on the black, leather paddle in her hand. Jolting up, I met her burning brown eyes. The gold flecks in them shined under the bright overhead lights, a light smile playing on her cheeks.
Leo held my gaze. “Do you pledge your body to us? To beours?”
The second half was easy. To be Spencer and Leo’s felt more like a privilege than a punishment. To be Dom’s… well I had no idea what it would look like. But I doubted she would suddenly be baking me cakes and snuggling.
A part of me was scared to give them my body. I knew, especially now, that Leo and Dom weren’t going to be as gentle. That they’d take me the way they wanted me even if Leo was playing nice for now.
But there was no denying the throbbing excitement between my legs, despite how fucking terrified I was.
Dom’s growl snapped me from my imagination. “Do you pledge to share our pains, our pleasures, as your own?”
I hadn’t noticed the three of them stopping in front of me, the oath having come to an end.
And now they awaited my reply.
Blowing out air, I adjusted my stance to lift my body as high as I could. “I swear myself to you — Spencer, Leona… and Dom. To put my mind, body, and soul in front of the sword.” I caught on the words, not entirely sure what they would mean.
“To let truth and honesty guide me.” My eyes flicked to Dom, reluctantly ceding to her. “I pledge my loyalty and my body. To bleed the same blood. To beyours.” Those words I gave to Leo and Spencer.
Swallowing, I let the final pledge slip from my lips. “I pledge to share in your pains and your pleasures.”
Gritting my teeth, I met Dom’s gaze. “I swear it to the Goddess Styx.”
My destiny was changed now, forever bound to them. Not just because I’d said the words. But because of the blood we’d spilled the night before. The strange tether kept me from running for the Valemont hills.
“Are you willing to prove it?” Leo’s voice was a low, husky rumble as her jaw tensed.
Adjusting in my restraints, the clatter of the chains reminded me there was no escape now. I couldn’t know how I’d prove it to them, how I could show them that I needed their help more than I needed my freedom.
“Yes.”
19
KIERA
I’d hardly noddedmy consent before the sight of knives in my captors hands sent a surge of panic straight through me. When I’d said yes, I thought I was agreeing to some spooky, cultish hazing — not a human sacrifice.
But as they stepped closer, blades glinting in their fists, I took a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart. Dom might hate me, but Spencer and Leo certainly didn’t. And all three of them had put a lot on the line to keep me safe.
They’re just playing mind games, bunch of sick fucks.
I dangled completely at their whim as Spencer and Leo moved to either side of me, Dom hovering just ahead. I tried to keep my face calm, not wanting to give Dom the satisfaction of watching me squirm.
