Dangerous Read online

  Tain made a sound of unhappiness as she moved just a little on the blanket, then she sank back into sleep. As soon as Jake was certain of that he left her and went to the pack horses he'd hidden in these trees before going into the slavers' compound. One of the horses had been carrying his possessions and the other had had Tandro's things, but both horses had been unburdened and put on a grazing line before he and Tandro had left.

  The pack horses had pretty much grazed as far as they could by now, so Jake shifted their positions before carrying his tent and stuff into the clearing. He'd already taken care of his saddle horse, so he put up the small tent and then went to gather wood for a fire. It was somewhere around noon right now and his stomach told him it could do with a meal, and Tain would certainly be hungry when she woke up. Not that she was likely to enjoy what she was given, but that was just too bad about her. If she'd been reasonable…

  But she hadn't been reasonable, and Jake had decided to make her regret that choice. Maybe someday the lesson would help to save her life…

  * * *

  Tain woke up feeling confused, most especially since she couldn't see anything. For a minute she didn't understand, and then she realized that although her wrists weren't tied any longer she still wore that blindfold. It took only a minute to push the cloth up before pulling it off, and then she was able to see again.

  But the return of sight wasn't the comfort it should have been, not when she saw Killen sitting by a dying fire drinking from what looked like a water skin. It was fairly obvious that he'd also eaten, something that made Tain very aware of the hollow in her middle. But she'd rather starve than ask that man for anything, so if that was what he was waiting for -

  A hiss forced its way out of Tain's throat when she thoughtlessly tried to sit up. That miserable insertion felt smaller than it had originally but it was still inside her, something she'd found out about when she'd tried to sit in the normal way. Perching on her hip was about all she could do, a humiliating position that the amusement in Killen's very light eyes said he knew all about.

  "I'm glad you're awake, Kitten," Killen said as he put aside the water skin. "Come over here and have your lunch, and then you can do some cleaning up and wood-gathering. You'll want to be ready when it's time for you to make supper."

  "Thanks anyway, but I'm not very hungry," Tain said, forcing herself to ignore his stare. "Since I'm the slave around here, I might as well get directly to work. Show me what needs cleaning, and then I'll get the wood."

  "You'll do as you're told, slave," Killen said, his tone having turned as hard as the look in his gray eyes. "You're not in a position to decide what you will and won't do, something you ought to know but obviously don't. Let's see if I can make the point absolutely clear for you. Come over here."

  Tain tried to resist doing as he said, but the drug in her system made his orders completely undeniable. The best she could do was move slowly as she got to her feet and walked over to where he sat, but the slowness of her pace seemed to make him even more annoyed.

  "Stubbornness has its place, but the trick in using it successfully is knowing when not to use it," Killen said, reaching up and pulling her down across his folded legs. "The next few minutes might help in teaching you which time is which, and if it doesn't then we'll just keep doing the same over and over until you do learn. Keep your hands and arms right where they are."

  Tain's hands had gone to the ground beyond Killen's leg, so she didn't understand his order until she felt a really hard smack on her bottom. Her first reaction was to gasp and try to protect herself with her hands, but only the gasp actually worked.

  "Did you like that?" Killen asked while Tain fought not to squirm because of the growing sting in her seat. Not squirming was absolutely essential because of what the last of the insertion was doing to her, that smack waking it up with a vengeance. "Answer me, slave. Did you enjoy what you were just given?"

  "No," Tain was forced to say, the single word pulled past the growl in her throat as her hands turned to fists. She wasn't being allowed to defend herself in any way, and that was lousy, stinking, and -

  "How about that one?" Killen asked after giving her a second hard smack that almost made her cry out. "Did you enjoy the second any more than the first?"

  "No," Tain choked out again, too busy with trying to control her reactions to ask what the hell he thought he was doing. Besides starting to slowly drive her crazy…

  "I have a theory about why you aren't enjoying this," Killen said while the ache built higher in Tain's bottom. "I think you aren't enjoying the spanking because you don't know how much good it will eventually do you, so you aren't able to really appreciate it. What I intend to do is keep spanking you until you appreciate the effort enough to thank me, and I expect those thanks to be sincere. Let's see how long it takes."

  And then his hand smacked her bottom again, just as hard as the first two times. This third smack, though, landed on a seat that was already aching, which meant Tain wasn't able to keep from yelping just a little. As the fourth and fifth and sixth smacks landed in turn, the yelps grew in size and volume until Tain was almost shouting. In addition to the flaming heat growing inside her, the ache in her bottom was flaming almost as high.

  At one time Tain would have sworn that she was able to take anything anyone could dish out, but she quickly learned that a hard spanking wasn't part of the anything. Every time Killen's hand landed on her bottom the situation got worse, finally forcing her to admit that stubbornness might not be the best of ideas right now. She would rather have died than give the louse any satisfaction at all, but since dying wasn't even a faint possibility…

  "Thank you!" she found herself suddenly blurting as she fought to swallow her howls of pain and need. "I really want to thank you!"

  "Oh?" Killen said, and happily that hand hadn't come down on her bottom again. "You're thanking me? What are you thanking me for?"

  "I'm … thanking you … for - Ow!" Tain yelled when another smack reached her tender backside - probably because she was talking too slowly. "I'm thanking you for giving me - ow! - this spanking! Thank you for - oh! teaching me what I need to - ouch! know!"

  "Not bad," Killen allowed, and even while Tain writhed she noticed that he'd stopped spanking her again. "You do sound somewhat sincere, but I'll need some proof of that sincerity. Ask me to finish the spanking in a proper way."

  Tain almost asked what he meant by "a proper way," but she cut the words off just in time. Questioning the man in any way at all would cast doubt on her "sincerity," and that was something Tain very much wanted to avoid.

  "I … would like you to … finish the spanking in a … proper way," she got out through gritted teeth, hating herself for being such a coward but helpless to do anything else. "And I'd … like to … thank you … in advance."

  "You'll also thank me once it's finished," Killen said, and then an even harder smack to her bottom made Tain howl louder than ever. There was a pause between each of the following smacks, so after the fifth it took Tain a short while to realize that the spanking was over.

  "Now you can get to your knees and give me those thanks," Killen said once Tain's wildness had calmed just a little. "That's right, move backward off my lap."

  Tain had no interest in moving at all, but it still wasn't possible for her to refuse. Small pain sounds were forced out of her throat as she backed off Killen's lap and to her knees, humiliation covering her like a blanket.

  "Thank you for … finishing the spanking properly," Tain said once she'd settled into a position that brought the least amount of added pain to her bottom. She wasn't able to look directly at Killen, and surprisingly he made no effort to get her to do it anyway.

  "There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked instead as he used one finger to wipe at the tears streaming down her cheek. "I know the time wasn't pleasant for you, but you have to learn not to act any differently than other slaves. As long as you're a good girl and do as you're supposed to, you probably
won't have to worry about being spanked again. Now take this food and eat it."

  Killen put a wooden bowl into her hands, and despite the fact that Tain had no appetite whatsoever she used the crude wooden spoon to swallow down the plain cereal the bowl contained.

  "Good girl," Killen said once she'd finished the "meal." "Next time you'll eat as soon as your food is ready so it won't be cold the way it was just now. And if you're a really good girl, we'll see if we can't find berries or something to give the cereal some sweetening. Now you can rinse the bowl in the second bucket of water that's a little farther away, and then you can go and collect firewood."

  Tain was about to protest that she needed easing first, but one glance at Killen's expression said that she'd be wasting her breath. He really was determined to treat her like a slave and make her act in a way he considered proper. Even with no one around, he obviously wasn't prepared to budge an inch.

  Tain had trouble getting to her feet, and once she was standing she had trouble walking. The ache in her bottom flared high with every step and motion, and the heat inside her made her want to moan. But none of that was allowed to keep her from doing the chores assigned by her owner, a man who seemed to be watching her every move. And washing the bowl proved to be the easy part. Once she put the bowl aside and headed into the trees for the firewood, she found out just how bad it could get.

  A small armful of wood had already been collected when Tain moved behind a tree to gather what was on the ground. As soon as sight of Killen and the camp was cut off, her mind automatically went to the possibility of escape. It would be so easy to slip off into the deeper woods and head for the base, keeping to the wilderness the entire distance. She knew how to stay out of sight, how to feed herself, how to make sure no one had the least idea she was around…

  But taking the first step proved to be impossible. She'd been given very strict orders about staying with Killen, and even though she fought with all her strength she couldn't break the hold those orders had on her. It was maddening, infuriating - but there was nothing she could do about it. She'd been tied hand and foot without a single length of leather touching her.

  By the time she had all the wood she could carry, Tain was completely miserable. Her bottom ached and throbbed, the need threatened to send her screaming to her knees, and she felt so hemmed in that the emotion nearly reached the level of phobia. She hobbled back to the campsite and put the wood she'd gathered on the ground near where the fire had been, deliberately not looking around at anything. She hated being so tied down, and the hatred made her uninterested in everything but itself.

  "That's a good start," Killen said from where he lounged on the ground, callously intruding on Tain's need to brood in silence. "We'll need more wood than what you have there, but before you go back out for it there's something I have to do. Come over here and kneel down."

  Tain would have hesitated quite a while if she'd been able, but only a short hesitation was possible before she just had to obey.

  "Good," Killen said when she was on her knees, and he seemed to be pretending that she'd obeyed him enthusiastically. "You'll need some help, and the slavers were kind enough to make sure I could give it to you. No, don't worry, you're not about to be spanked again."

  Tain had stiffened and almost struggled when Killen took her across his lap again, and she wasn't entirely sure that she could believe what he said. It wasn't all that long since the last time she was bottom up across his lap, and the experience was one that would be remembered for quite a while. Then she gasped as she felt his hands parting her thighs, and gasped a second time, louder, when two of his fingers put something inside her.

  "This cream is designed to soothe your inner parts and make it easier for you to do your duty toward your master," Killen said as he moved his fingers in a way that made Tain moan. "I know the treatment is hard on you right now, but we can't do anything about rewarding you for acting properly until you're in a condition to appreciate that reward. Is the soreness being eased?"

  With speaking completely beyond Tain, all she could do was nod spasmodically. She hadn't really been aware of the soreness inside her, not with everything else she'd been made to feel, but she was aware of the way the cream had first eased and then banished the soreness.

  "Okay, all done," Killen said, no longer using one hand on her thigh to hold her still. "You can get up now and go back to gathering wood. Your body needs time to absorb that cream completely, and there's no sense in your not doing something constructive while we're waiting."

  While we're waiting, Tain thought bitterly as she found that getting up was almost as hard this second time. Her body was now screaming for relief, and the thought of how long she still had to wait made Tain want to blubber or tear her hair. She was almost to the point of being willing to beg, and it wasn't just the knowledge that she'd be ignored that stopped her. If she ever begged Killen for anything she really would want to die…

  Tain fought not to squirm as she walked back into the woods, and the fact that she probably failed miserably wasn't one she cared to consider. There were now two compact tents in the small clearing the campsite had been erected in, with a few feet distance between them. The second tent reminded Tain that Killen had said his friend Tandro would be arriving, and the thought that the native would get here in time to see her being humiliated was a devastating one. Not to mention that Tandro would have Ennie with him…

  The picture in Tain's mind of her moaning under Killen while Ennie laughed in ridicule was so vivid that she didn't realize she had all the wood she could carry until she dropped the latest branch she tried to add to the rest. The realization that she'd completed her chore sent her directly back to the campsite, her body refusing to listen to the reluctance in her mind.

  Tain nearly held her breath until she saw that Killen was still alone, but that sight didn't bring the relief it should have. There was no telling when the other man would arrive, but it suddenly came to her that using one of the tents ought to take care of the problem. For that reason Tain hurried to put the second load of wood with the first, but before she could say anything Killen had his own say.

  "And now it's time to give you your reward," Killen told her with a grin, and his rising to his feet showed Tain that he'd moved the blanket and had been sitting on it. "No, don't say anything right now. I've been looking forward to your getting back and I don't want the mood spoiled."

  The mood spoiled. Tain's mood was one of frustration that made her want to scream, most especially when Killen came close to lift her into his arms. The heat inside her flamed higher at the touch of his hands and body, but her mind's reluctance also grew as he carried her to the blanket, went to one knee, then put her down on the cloth.

  "Just to make you feel less alone, I was given a cream for my own use," Killen murmured as he put himself beside her on the blanket. "Now we're ready to make beautiful music together instead of whimpering piteously. Aren't you glad?"

  Tain tried to shake her head vigorously, but Killen held her head still with a fistful of hair and began to kiss her. At the same time his free hand caressed her wherever it could reach, increasing her need so badly that Tain thought she would die. She writhed in his grip and made sounds of desperation, and after an eternity his lips left hers long enough for him to remove his loin covering.

  One glance showed Tain that Killen was just as ready as she was in spite of the way she had to use her feet to keep her tender bottom off the blanket. She watched him move between her knees, taking her thighs in his hands, and then he was presenting his rampant demand to her own desire. If she could have she would have screamed for him to hurry - and then she was suddenly in a lot less of a hurry.

  "Oh, yes, how deliciously tight you are now," Killen exulted while Tain choked over the impression that he was pushing a tree trunk inside her. "We're going to have much more pleasure this time, we certainly are."

  Tain would have wanted to show her disagreement with that opinion, but she was m
uch too busy thinking about how long it would take for her to break…

  Chapter Three

  Tain's mind was filled with pure desperation by the time Killen was completely inside her. He felt so outrageously big that she was sure she couldn't hold all of him, her body lying totally motionless due to the conviction. But once he had entered her fully, the touch of his body to her tender bottom made her jump and squirm in a way that also widened her eyes.

  "That's my good girl," Killen murmured as he began a slow withdrawal that Tain just knew was the start of gentle stroking. "We're going to enjoy this a lot, you just wait and see if we don't. Now doesn't that feel good?"

  If Tain had been able to speak she wouldn't have been able to speak. Killen's movement was the start of his stroking, and the sensations Tain felt were beyond description. She needed relief desperately, but the sudden size of him was so overwhelming that she began to mewl at every motion. And she'd thought he was big the first two times… If left to her own devices she would have lain without moving, but every time he stroked inward his body touched her backside and made her writhe and squirm.

  "What a good kitten you are," Killen murmured as he held her close while he slowly increased the speed of his stroking. "A deliciously tight, squirming kitten who's giving me more pleasure than I've ever felt before. Yes, that's right, keep moving like that."

  Tain wanted to be furious over the way Killen kept speaking to her, but all too soon she became completely lost to what his body did to hers. Her world became one of pure sensation interspersed with lengthy explosions, a world that didn't end for quite some time. When the time finally did end and Killen withdrew to lie beside her, Tain had strength enough to do nothing more than lie motionless with her eyes closed.

  "Now you know I wasn't lying," Killen said after a long time of silence while they both did nothing but breathe. "I said you'd be even better than you were the first time, and you can take my word for it that you were. And now you can talk again any time you like."