Page 31 of Gladiator's Captive
Rager jumped over the table in one clean swoop, his long limbs giving him an advantage I hadn’t accounted for. I cried out, dodging the outstretched hand of the gladiator, but my footing was uncertain and I lost my balance. Strong arms closed around my waist as I screeched furiously, kicking wildly as Rager pulled me closer to his body.
“Let me go! You savage!” I screamed, reason gone from my mind as I fought the hold of steel. My small hands were closed into fists, pummeling the much larger arms around my waist but with little effect. Rager had me.
The Muharib growled, emotions finally piercing the surface of his countenance. He was quick to drag me along toward the neat, narrow bench where the Imperial Guards used to sit for their meals. A powerful kick had the table breaking apart in the opposite corner as Rager sat down, pulling me across his lap then securing me firmly in place, bracing one large thigh over my legs.
All the while, I struggled and cursed at him. And all the while, my pussy throbbed and wetness spread between my legs, totally out of my control. I was getting aroused at the same time as I was more angry than I had ever been.
“You are the most stubborn, disobedient woman I have ever encountered.” Rager spoke low in a controlled, even voice, but I felt the storm brewing under the surface just as I could feel the heat of his erection pushing on the flesh of my stomach. The feeling of his arousal sent my own body into overdrive and another kind of storm brewed down in my belly, one full of shame and need. Full of female things I would rather die than admit.
Then, in one clean swoop, my dress went above my back, baring my bottom for a second time in less than a day.
“Savage! Barbarian!” I shouted as I squirmed on Rager’s knee, but a leg wrapped over the top of my thighs pinned me too securely in place. I might thrash around as much as I wanted, I wasn’t going anywhere. I reached behind me with my closed fists, hitting anything I could. It didn’t seem to faze him. I was under his utter and total control.
“I hate you!”
A large hand covered both my ass cheeks, feeling up my firm flesh. I almost choked on outrage even as a hot liquid spread between the lips of my pussy, bringing my anger to a fevered pitch. Arousal mixed with my shame as I knew Rager could see my pussy from his vantage point, that he could see the juices coating my flesh, betraying me completely.
“Fuck you!” I went on, spewing insults at Rager. “Asshole!”
“Swear all you want,” Rager said, as his hand caressed my naked skin, the deceptively slow motion heavy with a promise to be fulfilled. “It’ll only make me want to spank you harder and longer.”
The softness of his touch only made the sting of the blow bite more cruelly. A fast succession of hard swats followed, thoroughly covering every inch of my exposed skin, from the roundness of my buttocks to the soft skin of my upper thighs. It hurt, but in a strange way, one I would never admit to, it also felt good.
“You have accepted my protection. You are under my care and you will have to learn to obey.”
My skin was burning, but I knew there was more to come. Rager was far from finished with me. The sound of his belt sent a shiver up my spine and the memory of the pain he had inflicted made my eyes water.
“Are you ready to accept your punishment now?”
Tears fell down my cheeks as I nodded, finally accepting the situation for what it was. I was going to be spanked, no matter what I did. No matter if I deserved it or not. The first blow from his belt made me whimper, but I remained still as he kept going, the swats of his folded-up belt fast and harsh. I had no way of knowing, but I knew my skin wouldn’t be just tender like before. No, this time I was going to hurt for much longer.
Rager kept going. The pain was blistering, blinding, but as Rager punished me, a strange sense of calm overtook my body and mind. I was beginning to accept that I had made a mistake by not obeying his order, and I was also suspecting more. That this punishment of his was not just to assert his authority, but to make me feel what he had felt when he saw me in danger.
And this meant that I mattered. For the first time in my life, I mattered to someone enough to make them shiver with fear at the thought of losing me. The real me, not the fortune tied to my name or the prospect of advancement in the social ladder my high birth provided.
Just me, Serena. Just a woman.
Another blow and Rager paused.
“You’re not fighting me anymore.” His tone was still controlled, but there was more underneath. “Good. This means you understand what you did to me. What I felt when I thought those men were going to hurt you.”
Another blow landed on my bare skin, but this time, it was with his open palm. His hand lingered after the blow, resting on my burning skin. The pain mixed with my emotion, strangely soothing.
“I’m sorry.” I had never meant the two words more. “I didn’t think about that.”
It was true. I never mattered to anyone before. Not like this.
“You are mine, Serena.” Rager moved me up from his lap until I sat across his legs. The pain from my punished skin was searing, but the gentleness of his touch erased all the discomfort, leaving only a bubbling surge between my legs that went straight to my heart. “I cannot suffer anything happening to you. Ever.”
I locked gazes with him and something broke between my ribs. It was like a dam, opening up after years of drought, soaking up Rager’s care like the dry desert ground. Those eyes shone with emotion and that perfect, chiseled face was pulled tight over bones sharp enough to break skin.
“Why?” The question choked the words in my throat. I was more afraid now than I had been, ever. “Why do you care?”
“Because you are mine, Serena.” There was a finality to Rager’s words, to the way he spoke that made the simple words sound like much more. Like a promise, or the strong rope holding up a drawbridge. The foundation of something else. Something big and solid. An entire new life, perhaps. “You are mine. My woman. And once you became mine, Serena, you became more precious than life itself. This is what being a Muharib’s mate implies. Total surrender. Total submission. Total loyalty. My devotion to you accepts nothing less. I gave you all, and I will take all.”
A tsunami of emotions washed over my mind and body. For a dizzying second, I forgot all. My father and his scheme, Valcan and its cruelty. The desert and the Imperial Guards.
All that was left was Rager and me, our warm, living bodies, our souls, melting like lovers.
