Page 53 of Don't Look Away

Gripping her arm again, I spin her around, so her front is pressed against the waist-high table. Then I grip a fistful of her silky chestnut hair, pulling until her head arches back. I dip my head and whisper directly in her ear, “You can’t pledge your loyalty to the Burning Crown, because it already belongs tome.”

She whimpers a little, probably because my grip on her hair is tight, but it’s what she deserves. Pain. Punishment. My cock deep in her ass.

“I’m s-sorry, Roman,” she stutters, her voice thick with emotion. “Let’s talk about this.”

Is that fear in her voice? Guilt? Regret? I don’t know, and I don’t fucking care. She needs to be put back in her place.

I release her hair, I hold my hand out. “Rope!”

The person with the rope scurries forward and places it in my outstretched hand. Whoever it is, looks afraid behind their mask, as they should. I’m going to find each and every person in this room and educate thempersonallyon the consequences of setting eyes onmy fucking woman.

Lux is still turned away from me. “Hands behind your back,” I say coldly. She has a thing about being restrained because of what happened last year, but she needs to know who is in control.

A sob escapes her throat, and she turns her head to look at me. “Roman,please. Don’t do this.” There’s a desperation in her eyes that I haven’t seen before. She’s truly afraid, and I don’t even stop to ask myself why that makes me want to fuck her harder.

“Hands. Behind. Your. Back.”

There’s a moment of silence. She doesn’t move, doesn’t say anything, and I know she’s warring with herself, whether or not she should do it.

“You want to serve the society,” I say angrily. “Then you’ll do what the society asks of you. I am a Sacred Son, and I amcommanding youto give me your hands.”

She places her hands behind her back slowly, hesitantly. I grab her wrists with one hand and wrap the rope around them, tying her wrists in the complex knot I’d been taught to make. Her head is bowed, and I know she’s crying. But any compassion I had for her vanished when I saw her kneeling in front of my best friend, ready to suck his cock.

With that image fresh in my mind, I reach for the hem of her robe and yank it up, exposing the smooth globes of her luscious ass. I brush my free hand over her silky skin, then up, to the small of her back, applying pressure, so she’ll bend over the table.

I extend my hand, palm up, addressing the circle. “Paddle.”

Someone approaches and puts it in my hand. “W-we’ve already done the paddle—” The person says—Brian, maybe. It’s hard to identify voices with the masks on.

Maybe-Brian moves back to his place in the circle, and I grip the handle, tossing it to feel the weight of it in my hand. There are definite welts on her ass from where Brian or someone paddled her bare ass. “Ah, yes, I see someone has touched you already. They’ll pay for that.” I tap her ass cheek gently with the paddle. “But maybe we should do it again…just to make sure there’s no unfair bias and I don’t go easy on you. That’s what you want, right? Fairness?”

Her face is in her hands, but she says nothing. Smart girl. I move her hands aside, so I have unobstructed access to her ass.

“This paddle,” I say slowly, reciting the words from memory. “Represents the adversity you will endure in defense of the society.”

Drawing in a breath, I bring the paddle downhardon her ass. Her entire body jolts forward, and she cries out wordlessly. I reel back, waiting for her to call this off. She doesn’t though, so I bring another blow down on her glorious ass. Another yelp, this time a little more muffled, like she’s trying to keep it contained.

I don’t know why that makes me even more angry, but it does. Her head is turned to the side, and I grab her chin, pulling it up awkwardly, so she’s looking at me looking at me from the corner of her tear-filled eye.

“Ready to stop?” I ask.

But even through the tears, I see the defiance in her eyes, andfuck if that doesn’t make my heart beat just a little bit faster…

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

Lux

This is my worst nightmare.Tied up, unable to defend myself, even if I wanted to. But there’s something in me that won’t give Roman the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten to me.

“Ready to stop?” he asks, his tone ice-cold.

I just look into his eyes, unflinching. The pain is nearly unbearable—my arms awkwardly restrained behind me, the sting of the paddle, the way he pulls my head up to look at him—but I’mdeterminedto see this through. If only for fucking spite.

His lips curl into a sneer. “Okay, then. Shall we continue?” Releasing my hair, he addresses the circle. “What is it, three strikes? Aren’t those the rules?”

Another violentthwakon my ass—and it’s so hard this time, that tears immediately erupt from my eyes. I can’t help it. It’s like a visceral reaction to the pain, but I work hard not to sob openly, biting the inside of my mouth to distract from the deep throb in my backside.

I hear him toss the paddle onto the ground, and in the silence of the room, I also hear him unzip his pants. His hand smooths over the spot he just hit, and I wince. Fucking-A. That still hurts, the bruise-like pain lingering, especially when touched.

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