Page 37 of S is for…

Master Morton dropped back down onto his heels, and Lihn released him, stepping back.

For a moment, Lihn Vo looked out at the crowd, and Diann wondered if he’d address the spectators.Instead, his gaze landed on where she, Joni, and Laney waited.

He raised a brow.

Joni, standing on Diann’s right, grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze.Diann squeezed back, then took Laney’s hand, connecting and anchoring the three of them together.Laney clung to her fingers as if she were a lifeline.

Diann nodded to Lihn.

He pulled the whip off his shoulder and shook out the tail.

Laney made a distressed noise.“I don’t think I can watch this.”

“Why?”Joni whispered.

“Because they aren’t pain bottoms.They’re sadists, not masochists.”

“You remember they suggested this, not us, right?”Diann added, not bothering to whisper.“And Master Mor… I mean Julen has probably been whipped before.I know Peter has.He trained with every device or implement he used on me.Training usually means having another Dom do to you what you want to do to the sub.”Diann wasn’t going to think too hard about why her instinct was to refer to the man with the more formal Master Morton.

“I know,” Laney insisted.“It’s just…I feel so bad.”

“Why?”Joni demanded.“Because emotionally this might be hard for them?Because physically this is definitely going to hurt?”

“Because what he did to me doesn’t seem bad enough to deserve this,” Laney said softly.

Diann exchanged a look with Joni.The other woman’s self-esteem seemed dangerously low.

“Remember, they asked for this,” Joni whispered.

“And they’ll feel better after.The absolution of punishment.Plus the comedown from intense impact play is…” Diann licked her lower lip as she thought, not sure how to describe it.

Before she could find the words, Lihn pulled back his arm, and with a small flick, lashed Peter’s back.It was a high hit, in that sweet spot across the shoulders where there was a good layer of muscle under the skin.

Peter tensed for a moment, chain rattling, and then he relaxed.The midmorning light meant they could see all the details…of the very pale pink line.

A little light in Diann’s opinion, but shewasa pain bottom, so her perspective was probably warped.She’d assumed Lihn would add more intensity when administering the punishment than he’d used when he whipped her, but maybe not.

Lihn took two steps to the side, raised his arm, and lashed Julen’s back.

He held perfectly still.No reaction.

Lihn gave each man two more lashes, then stepped to the side to coil the whip.

Peter had accepted them gracefully, rolling his shoulders and shifting his weight foot to foot between strikes.

Master Morton was doing a very good impression of one of the Iron Court statues.He hadn’t moved except to breathe.

Diann found herself breathing in sync with him, holding her breath when he did.

Lihn fussed with the tresses of the cat then did a couple test strikes against his own leather-clad leg.The cat was definitely the more impactful of the two, with a good sting that spread over a larger area because falls spread out in the air before landing.

Lihn stepped up to Peter, and kissed the back of his left shoulder with the cat.A fan of pink lines appeared, and Peter leaned forward a bit, his body instinctively moving away from the source of the pain.

Rather than switching to Master Morton, Lihn struck Peter twice more, finishing out his punishment.

Each time the cat snapped against Peter’s back, Julen’s muscles twitched and tightened, until he could have served as the musculature anatomy model.

Lihn shifted, getting into position.

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