He catches my arm within his fist before I fall.
Then I do fall, for the world tilts as he takes a seat upon a nearby fallen tree and tosses me face first over his lap.
“Goddess! Unhand me at once!”
A firm swat lands against my silk-covered ass and startles a yelp from me.
“Had you not been so foolish, I would be claiming you tomorrow. It is absolutely my right to punish you in any way I see fit. And believe me, Princess Rosa. You will be repentant long before I’m satisfied.”
I know all the reasons for his beaten face in that instant. I’d fooled myself into thinking I had some choice in this, that he would not fall to his natural, basal side that I’ve always suspected was there.
I’m terrified, yet I cannot deny excitement lights a fire inside my core. My conflict manifests in a fierce struggle and desire to resist.
It is over with embarrassing swiftness, and my silk skirts are thrust up, smothering my head as sharp, stinging smacks are peppered over my upturned bottom.
Once the first few heat my skin, he takes his time with the punishment, seeming to savor each carefully placed spank. My pussy begins to clench with each clap of his massive hand. He takes longer between, pausing to pet and pinch the smarting flesh.
At first, it’s my shame that makes me struggle and cry out. Soon the fiery pain spreads and builds, and my shocked gasps turn to tears that are as much frustration as genuine hurt.
As I wriggle, I can feel slick gathering where my thighs squeeze together.
His fingers linger for longer between the spanks. I find myself holding my breath as they pass close to the swollen folds protected from his touch by the flimsy barrier of my panties.
They are wet, too.
I can feel them sticking to my pussy, and to the tops of my thighs.
“Open your legs,” he commands.
I do not open my legs.
But a rain of sharp, stinging blows to my sensitive sit-spot soon changes my mind.
The next three spanks land upon my silk covered pussy. I clench with each and every one, the pain near orgasmic. Goddess help me, do I imagine that it sounds wet?
It’s not enough that I’m humiliated and mastered already, for he pauses to explore the damp silk. A low purr emanates from his chest as he presses the silk into me and then gently tugs it away. His purr deepens as he repeats this. “Can you feel that, Princess? Your pretty silk panties are all stuck up inside you.” He presses a thick finger against my throbbing entrance, forcing the material in before tugging it back out again. “These will need to come off before I can finish your punishment.”
Barely do I mumble my protest when my panties are tugged all the way down, over my booted feet, and tossed to the ground before he resumes spanking my naked flesh.
I sob, and I plead. He is unmoved and determined to chastise me in the sternest, most severe manner a man can.
This time when the smacks veer toward my pussy, the wet clapping sound is unmistakable.
“What a naughty little Princess,” he says.
I groan and strain for more as his thick fingers glide over the burning, sensitized flesh of my outer pussy lips where I weep for his attention. I’m throbbing everywhere, my head and face hot and flushed from my storm of tears, my body exhausted from my flight.
I desperately want to come.
Disappointment fills me as he withdraws, and lowering my skirts, he helps me to unsteady feet.
I hear a distant, soft whinny coming from the forest. At Aramis’s whistle, his horse comes trotting through to join us on the path. The horse tosses its head and whinnies again as it sees the slain beast, shying before trotting toward his master’s outstretched hand. Gathering the reins, Aramis soothes the frightened animal with soft words and a gentle stroke along the horse’s neck. I’m relieved to see the horse well. But I’m also reminded that this place is not safe.
“Come,” Aramis says. Collecting his sword and ruined shirt, he tucks them against the horse’s saddle before turning to me. “We cannot linger on this path.”
With my hand in his, we walk a little distance into the dark forest, my eyes and ears straining for sounds of a threat. The feel of his larger, calloused hand around mine is comforting, but it also unsettles me. I thought I understood this man, but events have ripped that small amount of certainty away.
The sound of rushing water greets us before we come out to the side of a small pool. Night makes it both eerie and magical. The horse snorts once before lowering his head to drink.
Aramis removes the saddle and bridle, leaving me momentarily alone.
What will we do now? This place cannot possibly be safe.
Yet, it’s not concerns for my safety that fill my mind, but the awareness of the Alpha who tends to his horse with low soothing words and gentle coaxing hands. Mesmerized, I watch the play of muscles across his sculptured back, the broad, capable hands that have left a lingering ache on my bottom and have touched me intimately.
The butterflies are back. The softly beating wings soon become a ripple that twists up into a savage cramp.
Goddess help me. I’m rendered momentarily deaf and blind as I’m caught within the fist of the pain.
Aramis has saved me, only to watch me die.
CHAPTER THREE
Aramis
I SEE THE moment her heat takes her. A soft gasp and her sudden pallor before her face contorts.
My growl is one of encouragement as she doubles over before sinking to her knees.
The vicious cramping in her stomach is the first of many steps. Pain is necessary. It’s part of life. It’s integral to the dance between an Alpha and an Omega.
It’s her body preparing for me, her mate.
I rejoice in her suffering, for it will open her for the pleasure to come.
“Goddess help me, what is happening?” Her anxious, hissed whisper draws me to offer comfort. My rough hand strokes over her silken hair, my growl shifting to a purr as she presses into my open palm, seeking more. “Please, I don’t understand. I feel so empty.”
My cock thickens and lengthens. Rosa’s small hands clutch her stomach, although it will not ease the ache. “Little fool,” I say not unkindly. “You have fled the safety of your home on the cusp of your awakening. This will be rough on you, Princess. There is nothing that can be done about that. Had you only submitted to me willingly, I would have taken you with the care your innocent body deserves.” Pretty tears fall down her cheeks, her body trembling as the awakening takes her deeper into its embrace. “No opportunity for soft-things that an Omega in heat craves—no nest. Now, it will be an entirely different kind of heat you must endure for I can offer you no comforts here.”
“Please,” she says as tremors wrack her body.
I pet her hair as nature takes its course, smoothing out the tangles and the few pins that have survived her tumble through the portal. When I lift her chin that I might better see the emotions playing upon her face, her cornflower-blue eyes plead with me to take this terrible suffering away.
And I will.
“Oh!” Her hands sink lower. “Goddess!”
The scent of slick drives a stoniness to my cock already painfully aroused and trapped behind my leather pants. I breathe deeply, drawing her pheromones into my lungs, and welcoming the haze of my burgeoning rut.
Her face turns, nose sinking into the leather at my crotch—small hands fumble at my belt.