Page 29 of Bound and Beguiled

My insides shouted at me to run as I stepped slowly to the bed. Kynan pointed to the ground, and my knees turned to water. I trembled, my head down, and waited.

Kynan’s legs came into view as he slid from the bed and moved behind me, then Efa’s speckled, reddish fur filled my vision. Her fingers pressed gently beneath my chin, lifting my eyes to hers.

“I think some people have put a lot of energy into convincing you that you’re not beautiful, not desirable, not enough.”

The emotions were too much and I tried to look away, but her fingers tightened, holding me in place.

“Those people are wrong, Reza.”

Tears pooled in my eyes, blurring my vision.

“Let us begin to prove it to you.”

Kynan’s hands came to rest on my hips, caressing, his thumbs tracing the lace that formed a “V” over my tailbone. He smoothed them up my back, cupped them over my shoulders, and pressed until I was bent over, my face pillowed on Efa’s lap. My arms came up, wrapping around her, and she murmured in approval, petting my hair.

“You said you didn’t want to be hit during sex,” Kynan rumbled, his hands moving over my back in long, slow strokes. “Does the same rule apply to correction?”

I hesitated. The idea of being hit didn’t turn me on, but neither had biting...until I’d tried it. But enjoyment wasn’t actually my primary concern. I wanted absolution. I wanted to be purged of the voices in my head that told me I was insane for thinking I could share space with these amazing people. I wanted to be free. I wanted to be the person they saw, not the pathetic creature I knew myself to be.

I wanted to make them proud.

I shook my head.

“I need the words, Reza. Can I spank you?”

“Yes, Sir. Please spank me.”

Kynan’s body enveloped my back. His arm snuggled around my waist, hugging me close, and the kiss he placed between my shoulders was so full of caring the tears filling my eyes spilled over, dripping down my cheeks to splash on Efa’s kilt.

“One word, Reza. You say stop, we stop,” Kynan whispered against my ear. Then the heat of his body was gone, replaced by an explosion on my right butt cheek.

No fabric protected me from the crack of his palm against my ass. I cried out, arching, and his hand came down again before I’d begun to process the first blow. Fiery shock radiated from my left cheek this time.

“Breathe, baby,” Efa murmured, stroking her hands over my hair.

Air filled my lungs, then froze into solid blocks as Kynan’s hand came down again. Once more his palm slapped my throbbing flesh, and this time it hurt so bad I opened my mouth, the word “stop” teetering on my tongue.

“You will not let yourself be defined by small minded—” Kynan’s hand fell in time with the demonic growl of his command.

“Selfish,” a swiping blow that had me gripping Efa to keep from falling.

“Abusive,” from the other side this time, as I scrambled to stay in position.

“Unworthy people!” Three blows, steady as the tick of a clock, left me panting and trembling. Kynan’s breath was hot and rough in my ear as he snarled, “Do you hear me, Reza? Never again.”

All I could do was shake. It felt like he’d flayed the skin from my body, from my soul.

Crack!

“Answer me!”

“Never...again!” I sobbed out, the words garbled as the ice in my chest melted, rushing from my eyes in a salty river.

I clung to Efa, weeping, while my heart soared. The tears scoured me, flooding away the stains of self-hate fed to me my whole life, leaving me raw and throbbing, but for once—free.

Kynan’s hand came down softer now, the thud more an anchoring drumbeat than an attack. He was curled around me, his lips dropping sweet kisses on my sweaty back.

Gradually, my sobbing slowed to hiccupping breaths and I became aware of his and Efa’s soft voices chanting in chorus.

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