As we arrived back at the house that night, I was overcome with the strangest feeling of coming home.
We flicked on the lights, and everything was warm. It was quiet — it felt safe and familiar. As soon as the door clicked shut behind me, and I threw the deadbolt into place, I sighed. The tension in my back eased.
“Damn,” I said it softly, barely even realizing I’d given voice to the word. But Zane turned back toward me, curiously.
“What is it?”
“It’s just…it’s good to be back,” I said. He walked a little closer, with a curious, mischievous curve at the edge of his mouth.
“Is it?” He tucked a stray lock of hair back behind my ear and rubbed his fingers over the short fuzz of my undercut. “Why is that?”
I narrowed my eyes, barely restraining a shiver at his gentle touch. “You know why.”
“Oh, do I?” He pressed me back a little more, his body up against mine. “I’d rather hear you explain it.”
“I’d rather you shut up.” I couldn’t even manage to say it viciously. Damn, I’d lost my touch. He chuckled.
“I can’t properly harass you if I shut up now, can I?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d find a way.” He stroked his fingers down my face and under my chin, and I grabbed his wrist. But as I did, I noticed the bruises there that I hadn’t before: dark purple marks across his flesh, faded to yellow in spots but still angry in others.
It twisted my stomach. Even knowing he was here and safe, it made me furious to see the marks lingering.
“It wasn’t the first time I’ve been in chains, little wolf,” he said, grinning as he captured my attention back from staring at his bruises. “But I’d rather you restrain me any day, than that winged asshole.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Is that what you were thinking of while we were separated? You were off somewhere in chains, wishing I was the one pushing you around?”
“Something like that.” He lowered his head, looking at my fingers around his bruised wrist. “What would you think of that, hm? I demanded your body and soul when we made this deal. I demanded your submission.” He laughed, as if he realized now just how impossible that particular demand had been. “What if I wanted your dominance too?”
I looked at him skeptically, certain he was fucking with me. “You would want me to command you? I have a hard time believing that.”
“Why? We demons crave all stimulation. We crave the new, the unusual, pain and pleasure both. You know I like pain, Juniper. I think you can understand why pain can be ecstasy…and why it can be a relief. Why entrusting control to another can feel freeing.”
He put into words what I couldn’t. After so many years clinging to control, gripping it as if it was my single lifeline, giving it up to him felt like taking a heavy sigh, like untensing my body after a long day. It was strange to think he understood that.
But perhaps that was part of why I’d learned to trust him. He understood what he was doing. He knew how it felt, he understood my unspoken desire intimately because he experienced it too.
“I can’t control you,” I said. “I’m just a human.”
“Control isn’t all about physical strength now, is it?” He took a step back, and I followed him into the living room. The warm interior lights made the outdoors black as ink, and he pressed a button on the wall that drew all the curtains closed over the massive windows. He turned to face me again, and in the lamplight, I could see even more of his injuries. It wasn’t just the bruises on his wrists, but on his throat and his face too.
“Control is about force of will,” he said. “It’s about your will, and my will, in unison for what we desire. You’re fierce, Juniper. Not even a God could force your submission, so I certainly can’t.” He chuckled softly. “It’s not about that. You’ve given me control because you’ve wanted to. I can do the same.” The lingering smile on his face sobered for a moment. “They put me in chains to keep me away from you. That’s not a feeling I enjoyed. It’s still there.” He traced the bruises on his wrists, curiously, a frown on his face. “I’d prefer to replace that feeling. I’d prefer that you help me do that.”
Suddenly, he was pressed against me again. His hands cradled my head, his sharp teeth smiled down at me, as he said, “Tell me why you sighed with relief when you walked in that door, and I’ll give you control tonight. I think we both could use the outlet.”
I’d never imagined he’d even offer that. I’d played both roles in the past — I could submit when it felt right, I could dominate when allowed. They both fulfilled something different — different but intertwined, two halves of the same coin, two faces for the same deep need. The way he’d put it felt right to me: these games we played weren’t about physical strength, even though that could play a part in it. They were about willingness and desire. They were about relief and release.
But of course he had to be difficult about it. He had to demand I give a little of my precious, protected vulnerability, before he gave me his.
“This house feels like home,” I said, holding my chin up in defiant pride. “I haven’t had that in a long time. So I sighed. Because I feel good. Because I feel happy.” That last sentence came out viciously. I’d gone a damn long time without daring to say anything like that, so now that I claimed it, I’d defend it. I’d wield my happiness like a bludgeon to hurt anyone who dared to try to take it. “I’m happy we’re alive. I’m happy we made it out. I’m happy that…that I finally…” I swallowed. “That I finally feel like there was a reason I survived.”
He nodded, his pupils swelling with pleasure the longer he looked at me. “My little wolf gets braver every day,” he said. “You’re brave enough now to be as viciously happy as you are angry. Now…” His eyes darkened, and my core tightened with need. He stepped behind me, just out of my sight, his words a breath on the back of my neck. “Do you still want me to shut up?”
I grinned, my anticipation growing. “Always.”
He was gone and back before I even realized he’d left. He dropped something heavy on the coffee table, turned to me with a smug smirk, and said, “Make me.”
I was staring at the item he’d dropped, wide-eyed: two black leather straps attached to a shining silver ball. “Is that a metal ball gag?”
“You’re not the first being to want me to shut up,” he said.
“Are you trying to break your teeth?” I picked up the toy, turning it over in my hands curiously. It was beautiful, but not something I’d ever put in my mouth. Clenching metal between my teeth? No, thank you. I couldn’t afford a dental bill like that.
Zane chuckled. “I’m a demon, love, remember? I practically teethed on metal binkies.”
“Really?”
“No.” He shrugged. “But I could have.”
Imagining that gag in his mouth was getting me absurdly warm. Muffling that dirty, sarcastic mouth of his would feel so fucking good. Restraining a being as powerful as him, in any way at all, gave me a little shiver up my spine. “You’ve had this in the house all this time? What other toys are you hiding?”
He gave me a look that told me I was in for a surprise. I followed him upstairs, to the master bedroom, where he gave the large black chest at the foot of the bed a tap with his shoe. “Take a look.”
I crouched down in front of it and opened the lid. There were floggers, shackles, clubs, paddles, and chains. There was metal, leather, and wood. Some of the items were studded with metal spikes, some with sharp spines. I shook my head in disbelief, picking up a pair of thick metal shackles. As I turned back toward him, I had the shackles in one hand and the ball gag in the other. “None of these toys look very comfortable for humans.”
He gave me a long look up and down, and his forked tongue slid hungrily over his grinning teeth. “Most of these things aren’t meant for humans.”
“You should have told me these were here earlier,” I said, walking toward him. “I could have shut you up weeks ago and saved myself the headache.”
He sniffed and leaned his towering height a little closer to my face. “As I said, love…Make me.”
The idea that I could, in fact, force him to do anything was ludicrous. No number of whips and chains could amount to me overpowering him, but that wasn’t the point. This absurdly powerful being had decided to lay down his power at my feet, and that gave me a serious headrush. It made the lingering stress of the day, the gripping fear of having faced death, suddenly melt away.
All that mattered was right here, in this house, in this home. All that mattered was he and I, together again, ready to fight another day.
“Get on your knees,” I said. “Now.”
He knelt in front of me, and holy shit, seeing those bright eyes staring up at me, waiting for an order, made my heartbeat quicken. Shit, this was a being that could kill me in a second if he wanted — instead he was on his knees with a hard-on already visible in his jeans.
“Shirt off.”
He tweaked an eyebrow at me. “Trying to get yourself a good view, eh?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I gave you an order, not a suggestion.”
He tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it aside, giving me a cocky smirk. He knew how damn good he looked. He knew that the slight sheen of sweat over his muscular chest got me hot. He knew it made my mouth water when he rolled his shoulders and flexed his hands, emphasizing the thick veins running down his arms.
“Anything else you want me to take off?” he said.
“No. Open your mouth.”
A full set of deadly fangs greeted me, wickedly sharp. Curious, I dared to touch a finger to his teeth, right over the edge, testing it like a knife’s blade. His forked tongue brushed against me, teasing me, and my breath hitched for a moment as he took my finger in his mouth and sucked.
When he opened his mouth again, it was to say, “You’re blushing, Juniper.”
I glared down at him. “Shut. Up.”
I fit the ball gag in his mouth, securing the straps behind his head. It felt bizarre to see a metal ball fitted amongst his teeth, even knowing it couldn’t hurt him. The shackles didn’t lock, but were securable with a nut and bolt. I circled him, enjoying the view before I said, “Hands behind your back.”
He moved his arms back, and I gave myself a moment to enjoy the tightness in his shoulders, the way his muscles swelled when he moved. I crouched down, locking the shackles into place around his wrists.
“I guess you could break these if you really wanted, couldn’t you?” I laughed softly. “Oh, wow, you’re actually silent for once. What a good boy.”
He side-eyed me as I stood, the shackles secured. Gagged, in chains, on his knees — fuck, that was a sexy thing to see. I stood in front of him again, and scratched my nails lightly down the side of his face. His pupils had swelled, and he moved slightly to tug against the chains, keeping his eyes on me all the while.
“Let’s see how well you can keep quiet, hm?”
He mumbled something as I walked back toward the chest. I shook my head, even though his muffled sounds around the gag elicited an excited warmth deep in my stomach. “Are you failing already? Is it just too hard to resist the smart-ass remarks?” I had no idea what he’d tried to say; I could only assume it was something sarcastic because, well, of course.
When I turned back to him with a new toy in my hands, he managed to smile even around the gag.
“Do you like the look of this?” I let the flogger I’d selected swing from my hand as I approached him. The handle was leather, but the tails were slim pieces of metal chain. It was the kind of piece that could cause damage if wielded hard enough, but he’d already told me these toys weren’t here with humans in mind. I ran the metal tails up his arm, over his shoulders…and whipped it down.
His breath hitched for only a moment. The chains left behind beautiful red marks, growing brighter across his skin with every passing second. I hummed appreciatively and whipped it down again. His shoulders tightened, and I scratched my nails over the fresh marks.
“So quiet,” I teased. “Not so hard to silence yourself once it’s a challenge, is it?”
I put more force into my next lash. He exhaled heavily, readjusting himself, spreading his legs slightly. “Jeans getting a little tight there?” I brought my lips close to his neck, let my breath tease up his skin to just below his ear. “Poor boy. Doesn’t look very comfortable.” His hips twitched forward, and he took a deep, slow breath as I stood back and raised the flogger again. “Does the sting make your cock twitch?”
I whipped the chains down, and he growled as the reddened marks bloomed across his skin. Every step I took left me viscerally aware of how wet I was. I’d taken command in sex before, with other partners, but there was something particularly exciting about someone as powerful as Zane submitting to me. Even knowing he was a masochist hadn’t prepared me for him to actually let me take command.
I draped the flogger around his neck and pressed my foot against his crotch. His thick, hard length twitched against me, and I giggled as I applied a little more pressure. “Should I set this greedy cock of yours free?” I ground my foot down and he groaned, the veins in his arms beginning to run black. “I think I will. I just don’t know yet if it’ll be to make you feel good…or to hurt you.”
I crouched down and pulled open the button on his jeans. The head of his cock was glistening with precum, having pushed past the waistband of his briefs entirely. I rubbed my fingertip in slow circles around his slick cherry-red head, savoring every twitch.
“You’re looking a little tense, Zane.” His half-lidded eyes were fixed on me with such predatory hunger that I wondered if he was going to lose his patience and break out of the cuffs. The sight of his fangs around that thick silver gag, sharp against the bright metal, made my stomach squirm with desire.
I’d tamed a monster all my own, a monster who knelt for me from sheer desire.
I pulled down his zipper and tugged down his briefs, so his cock sprang free, straining toward me. I gripped it in my hand, too big to be fully encircled by my fingers. I stroked along it slowly, marveling at the ridges and swells of its ridiculous girth. Another bead of precum dripped from his tip, and I caught it with my thumb and sucked it in my mouth.
A shudder ran over him as he watched me, his hips jerking forward.
“What?” I said sweetly, dragging the flogger from around his neck. “Do you want more?”
I walked behind him, lashing him again before I stripped off my shirt and tossed it over his head to land in front of him. Another lash, and then my bra followed. Another — and I tugged off my jeans and threw them into the pile. Only my panties remained, damp with my arousal. His back was beautifully reddened, a few small welts forming amongst his tattoos.
“You’ve been so quiet, Zane,” I said softly. “You can manage to shut up after all. I think I should make it more difficult for you.”
I slid my panties down, and dangled them in front of his face. The moment he saw the dampness glistening on the fabric, he groaned.
“Do you want a little taste?” I circled him, naked, and trailed my finger down my chest, over the soft hair between my legs. “Should I let you taste?”
He nodded eagerly, every muscle tense, nostrils flaring with the effort of keeping himself obediently on his knees. It had to be sheer torture to control himself. Those chains on him were nothing: it was the self-restraint, the shuddering control, that truly kept him in his place.
There was something so cathartic in this. My anxiety had melted away when I’d trusted him enough to submit to him — this feeling was different, but no less intense. I was in awe of his self-control and enamored with my own power. I didn’t need any weapons to be powerful here.
I slipped my finger between my legs, sighing softly as I rubbed over my clit. His eyes were fixated on me, and he stared at my fingers as I drew them away, glistening with my arousal. I crouched down, and stroked my finger over his lips. He was practically shaking with the effort not to break through those chains.
I straddled him, teasing my pussy against the thick head of his cock and trailing the flogger up his back. “Too bad about that gag, boy. You can’t taste me with that in your mouth.”
When he groaned again, it was closer to a growl, and he tried to mutter something around the gag. I whipped the flogger down, grinning at the brief flicker of pain across his face. “Complaining, are we? Behave yourself, or this is all you’re going to get.”
I slid his head inside — just the head, and even that stretched me. I bit my lip, savoring the tightness as he watched me. It was a struggle not to take all of him. I teased him for how turned on he was, but I wasn’t doing any better. His cock twitched eagerly inside me, throbbing at my entrance, and I laughed softly.
“Do you want this pussy, Zane? Do you want more?”
He couldn’t move his hands to touch me; he used that weird little mind trick of his instead. It brought the sensation of fingers stroking through my hair and caressing down to grip tightly around my neck. I whipped the flogger against his back again, and he chuckled victoriously around the gag.
“Don’t get fucking cheeky with me,” I hissed. “I’ll use this flogger on your cock if you can’t behave.”
His eyes widened slightly, a glint of masochistic joy brightening them. Of course he liked the idea of that. Figures. But I understood it too well — after all, I was also the type to feel like threats of punishment were really just offers for a good time.
We were far too alike sometimes; alike in ways I’d never thought I could share with another being.
I got up, leaving his cock straining and glistening with arousal. He jerked toward me: eager, almost desperate. I shook my head at him, even though waiting to have him fill me was damn near torture for me too.
“You know, Zane, I let you carve your name in my skin.” I walked around him, swinging the flogger idly, the chain clinking together softly as I kissed it over his shoulders. “I’d really like to do the same to you.”
I pulled my knife from its sheath on my thigh, leaned over his shoulder, and held up the blade in front of him. His eyes widened with excitement, his jaw squeezing tighter around the gag. The thought of getting to mark him like he’d marked me — leaving my name in his flesh, scarring him so every demon who crossed his path would know a mortal had laid her claim on him — made desire tingle over every inch of my body.
“Should I do it?” I whispered, right in his ear. He didn’t hesitate for even a second. His eager nodding made me laugh. “Damn, you really want me to cut you up, don’t you?” I walked back around in front of him and tapped the knife under his chin. “Fucking sit up straight. And don’t you dare come until I say you can.”
I braced my hands on his shoulders, and lowered myself down onto him. He groaned as my pussy squeezed around him, tight even though I tried to relax to fit his girth more easily. I sheathed him fully inside me, panting through the last couple inches. It didn’t get any easier, fitting that monster inside.
His every muscle was taut as he watched me. I’d never thought I’d see a demon try so hard to behave. But of course, the only time he could manage to be good was when he was doing something so bad.
I traced my knife lightly along his skin, just beneath his collarbone. There was a gap in his tattoos there, a space between the dark, serpentine designs along his shoulders and the elaborate piece that adorned his chest.
That was where I’d mark my name.
I kissed his skin before I cut it. I kissed it slowly, taking my time, inhaling his scent with every touch of my lips against him. I looked up, and found him watching me longingly, his eyes bright with the anticipation of pain.
“You made a deal to own me,” I said softly, my lips inches from his. His cock throbbed inside me, and I barely held back a groan. “But I own you too.”
I sliced into his skin. Zane’s breath hitched around the gag, and he tipped his head back, his eyes closing as he savored the careful, stinging cuts. I formed the first letter of my name, and then the second, my gaze flickering back to his face every few seconds. His cock throbbed again, and I moved myself slowly along his shaft, riding him as I continued through the letters.
“Fuck, you feel so good,” I murmured. I paused halfway through my name, watching the blood drip down as I pleasured myself, fucking myself on his cock with one arm around his neck to hold myself up. “You get even harder when I cut you.” I paused, his cock buried deep inside me, and slapped my palm against his cheek. His eyes opened again, and he muttered something incomprehensible around the gag.
“Don’t close your eyes,” I said, as I set the knife back against his skin. “Watch me.”
He watched, his cock throbbing with every cut I made. He was shaking as if cold, but his body was feverishly hot. As his breath came harder, the room grew darker and so did his eyes. He was thrusting fervently into me as I reached the end of my name. That feral need couldn’t be caged for much longer.
I wanted it too badly to hold back anymore. I carved the final letter into him, smiling at the sight of my name etched in blood across his chest. But I only had a moment to truly admire it. There was a loud snap, and suddenly I found myself on my back, pinned to the floor, and Zane was gripping my thighs as he angled himself deep inside me.
He’d broken the shackles. He’d snapped them like they were nothing more than brittle glass.
My gasp choked off into desperate moans. He pounded into me, still gagged, the chains dangling from his wrists as he held my legs up and fucked me hard. I clawed his neck, leaving long red scratches across his tattooed skin, and he gripped my legs hard enough to bruise.
Every inch of him was tense, shaking, pushed to uncontrollable need by my slow teasing. I cried out, squeezing around him as pleasure shattered me into pieces. When the bliss contorted my face, he watched with veneration, with longing, as if he’d witnessed something unspeakably holy.
“Zane!” My voice shook, my body enraptured to that perfect ecstasy. My toes curled, my mind dazed and empty as he thrust into me with ravenous urgency. The sight of my scratches on his neck, the welts from the flogger on his shoulders, nearly made me come again then and there. I was riding high on an endless wave of euphoria, only brought higher as his cock throbbed inside me.
He growled around the gag and slammed his fist down, his claws ripping into the carpet as he came, pumping me full with his seed. He leaned into the crook of my shoulder, his hot forehead pressed to my skin, sucking in his breath sharply with every pulse of his cock inside me.
We lay still, panting, twined together like that for several minutes as we caught our breath. Slowly, with shaking arms, I unbuckled his gag and took it from his mouth. He chuckled softly, and lay his head back down against my shoulder, working his jaw for a minute to get the tension out.
“So, what do you think of it?” I said softly. “Now you have my mark too.”
He sat up, smiling as he looked down at the fresh cuts on his shoulder. The bleeding had already stopped, the wounds swiftly healing. “I’ll make sure they scar,” he said. “It’s an honor to be marked by a wolf.”
He pulled me up against him, holding me close. I hadn’t thought my marks would stay. I thought they’d be fun for the few minutes they lasted and nothing more.
But it felt right. I was glad my name was there.
I didn’t know what the hell would become of us. I didn’t even know if we would live another day or die. For now, it didn’t matter.
For whatever it was worth, regardless of what these twisting, confusing, frightening emotions meant — I’d given myself to a demon, and he’d given himself to me in return.
