She takes a step backward before turning and continuing down the hallway.
“These are the private rooms,” Maya says, waving a hand at each as we pass by before stopping outside a closed door and turning to face me again. Like she wants to keep me in her sight as much as I do with her.
“You can rent them alone, with someone else, or as a group, whatever your interests are. Each room has different toys and themes, as well as viewing panels that the occupants control. See these panes? There’s a button that can be used to make them clear if you like an audience, or you can leave it opaque if not.”
Curiosity burns me up from the inside out. I’m desperate to know what activities Maya engages in here but also terrified I won’t like what I hear. My wolf surges forward, convinced that whatever Maya says, we’ll love it. She was made for us after all.
“Do you like to rent rooms when you come here?” I ask, cocking my head to the side and leaning against the wall, hoping to convey curiosity rather than judgement.
“Yes, Sir,” she responds, making eye contact with the spot where my eyes would be if they weren’t covered by my mask.
“And do you do that alone, with a partner, or with a group?”
“Alone for some time now, Sir. I haven’t met anyone I felt I could trust enough.” She gazes up at me through her lashes before looking away when a light blush colors her cheeks. “I’m not sure why I just told you that.”
A bitter edge interrupts the sweet, heady scent of her arousal. Shame? Not exactly, but whatever it is, I need her to know that it’s not necessary.
“Maybe some part of you knows you can trust me,” I suggest.
Maya squeezes her eyes shut and swallows. Her breathing comes in short, rapid pants, and when she opens her eyes again, they shine bright yellow. There she is.
“Do you feel it too?” I ask, stepping closer but not touching her. Fates, I want to reach out and grab her. The rest of the club doesn’t exist. All that is here is me and Maya, lost in each other’s gaze.
Slowly, she nods. And my wolf pushes forward, urgency rising up for me to claim her, to make her mine and tie her to me for life before she realizes she doesn’t want this. I push him down; I would never do that to her.
“I feel it,” she admits, her tone breathy. “Like a thread pulling me closer to you. I’ve never…” She shakes her head, and my wolf preens. She wants to say she’s never felt this way before, but that would be a lie. She’s felt it with me already.
“For me, it’s like I’m magnetically drawn to you,” I whisper into her ear, delighting in the sight of goosebumps erupting along her neck and the growing scent of her arousal. “Not touching you, it physically pains me. My feet carried me to the seat beside you without ever thinking about it. Maybe your presence here is the reason I joined in the first place. To meet you. To be with you.”
A whimper escapes Maya, and she sways slightly as my words settle into her.
“I need to warn you about something,” she says, her pulse quickening. “I’m not a good submissive. Surrendering is something I struggle with. The reason I came here was because I wanted to let go of the control, to hand it over to someone else. But I can’t do it. Not completely. I have too many… restrictions, too many hard limits. I need too much.”
She looks down while talking, as if she can’t bear to see my reaction. As if a rejection is imminent. As if my reaction could ever be anything but want and love and affection when this goddess is talking. As if her limits aren’t a welcome guide in how to make her happiest.
Everyone submits to me, but I’ve never needed her submission. I need her love. Her trust. I need the opportunity to show her how perfect for her I could be.
I duck down until I can meet her gaze, and she follows me as I stand back to my full height. “I would give you anything. There is nothing that’s too much. Nothing that would make me turn away from you.”
She gasps and pulls back, pressing her hand to her chest as if her heart is aching. Maya’s eyes glow with the yellow of her animal, and her scent takes on an angry edge. Even though she’s resisting my declaration, I love to see the fire in her eyes after the dejection she just displayed.
“Don’t say that,” she seethes. “You just met me. You don’t know what you’re saying. It’s not fair to make promises you can’t keep.”
“Try me.”
She lets out a heavy sigh as if she’s heard that before, and it has my wolf snarling. I don’t want to know about her sexual history; everyone has a past. But that doesn’t mean I need to hear about it. I hate the idea of anyone treating her less than she deserved. Even if she wasn’t my fated mate, even before I knew who she was to me, she had me wanting and desperate for her. How would any male in her presence not want to worship her?
Maya paces away from me, as if she’s done with the conversation. But then she spins around again, walking right up to me, all fire and sexuality.
“I need order, an even number of repetitions, and I need to know what’s going to happen next because I can’t cope with surprises,” she tells me, her words coming thick and fast now. “I don’t like bondage. I need to… I like exhibitionism, being watched and craved. But I have a lot of hard limits. And quite a few soft ones too.”
My hands itch to reach out and touch her, hold her,claimher. My wolf pushes against me, my vision sharpens with his presence, and he whines and whimpers. But I leave enough space between us so that she remains comfortable. In control.
“Isn’t that what BDSM is all about? Submission and dominance within trust and limits.”
“Yes. In theory. But the reality is, I am too much… or not enough. I put too many limits in place.”
She looks away, unable to look at me, as if there would ever be a reality where anything she has to say would make her anything less than perfect for me.
