Chapter 14

CHAPTER14

She wasn’t aware that she’d been with him almost three weeks. Time passed strangely in his realm and the sun wasn’t always consistent. But it had been long enough that she no longer doubted who he was, or what he was. Truthfully the last of her doubts had died quick deaths after only a couple of days with him.

There were just too many impossible things to explain away. And once she’d let go of the distrust, she started to enjoy herself. She still forgot sometimes how much power he had, and then out of the blue, he’d surprise her with something amazing.

She’d asked for snow on a whim and had gotten it, despite being inside at the time. Romping through the cold drifts had reminded her so much of being a little girl. It was her father who’d taught her how to make snow maidens, by lying in the snow and waving her arms and legs.

Her mother had improvised sleds out of cardboard boxes and garbage can lids. Snowball fights had been more of a school friends’ game, but it all brought her back. And Master was there enjoying it with her. There’d been a moment when she’d thought she’d gotten herself in trouble, but instead he’d joined in.

It had been fun. All the days with him had been fun, so far. They were slowly getting to know each other through dating and everything was perfect except… she really, truly hated this challenge to connect without sex.

She’d known accepting it was a mistake, but she hadn’t thought it would go on this long. Part of her had been convinced that he, as a guy, would give in quickly. Men generally did anything they could to get sex, so why wouldn’t he be the same.

Wrong.

Master was like no man she’d ever met, and he showed absolutely no sign of being the first to cave. Meantime he was driving her crazy, because while he wouldn’t let her come, he had no problem whatsoever with driving her right to the very edge. And she was enjoying their kinky explorations, but she was pretty sure it would be more fun, for her, if there were orgasms mixed in.

She tried not to think about the challenge much. Distracting herself during the day worked. Even when the dates were romantic, she could usually keep from getting too overheated. It was like a regular dating relationship in the early stages, all those shy looks, and clumsy mistakes as they learned how to fit together.

But in the evening Master took charge. The sweet boyfriend who indulged her and wanted to make her dreams come true vanished, leaving a stern Dominant who enjoyed running her ragged and making her beg.

She crawled on her knees and kissed his boots while a quirt rained down fiery kisses all over her backside. He restrained her with weighted clamps on her nipples, so that every time she moved, they tightened and pulled, and then he paddled her until she was dancing in place. Her clothes had been ripped, cut, and torn from her body more times than she could count.

It bordered on cruel sometimes, but never went over the edge, and she loved that. There was never a moment when she would have screamed ‘Stop!’ and meant it, because he always seemed to know.

They were both learning her limits. She could handle a lot of physical pain, as long as he held her afterward and helped her to wind down. Her tolerance for being restrained on the other hand was very low unless she could see or touch him at all times. There was something panicking about being tied up and feeling alone.

Dating the human way had forced them to slow down, so they could learn to like each other, and maybe… more. If it had continued the way it had started, they would probably still be emotionally separated. She wouldn’t trust him, and he wouldn’t have become warmer.

It wasn’t love, not yet, but there were definitely growing feelings between them. As much as her body craved more, she couldn’t deny that waiting had helped in a lot of ways. And even though she hadn’t had a dry pair of panties on since he’d brought her here, she couldn’t really regret taking the challenge.

The problem was that she was done. She was so over the platonic dates and the sexless kink. She was fully ready to explore that other side of things.

Every time he touched her, she wanted to give up. Her stubbornness was torturing them both, but it had become a point of pride to keep going, and now she wasn’t entirely sure how to… stop. Multiple times, she’d opened her mouth ready to concede, but somehow the words wouldn’t come out.

“Aline? You’ve been stirring that coffee for a long time.”

She looked up and then back down at her untouched cup. “Sorry. Lost in thought this morning.” She put the spoon aside and took a big sip of the cold coffee—and then promptly spit it back out. “Ugh!”

Master laughed. “I watched you sugar it four times and was wondering what was going on.”

The cup vanished and a new one, steaming, appeared. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention,” she admitted.

“I could tell. I asked what we were going to do today.”

Aline frowned, tilting her head. “Isn’t it your turn to pick?”

“It is… but it’s Christmas Eve so I thought you might have some specific preferences. I do know most of the traditions, of course, but I’m not sure which ones you’d like us to do.”

She stared at him, unblinking. “Wait, it’s Christmas already?”

“Christmas Eve, but yes. I’ve never celebrated myself, so I admit I’m curious.”

She rarely did much for the holiday anymore. She hadn’t since her parents had died. Without family or close friends, what was the point of wasting the small amount of money she had.

But it was different now. She had him and money was no longer a concern. “We should get a tree and decorate it,” she said impulsively.

“If you describe what kind you’d like and how big I—”

“No, no, let’s go pick one out and chop it down.” She’d always gone with her father to do that as a child. He would let her pick and sometimes she’d take hours to find just the right tree.

One eyebrow rose as he looked at her. “I suppose we can do that.”

She’d learned a lot about how his realm worked by now and knew that somewhere an appropriate forest had just sprung into being. There would be tons of choices, and every single one would be perfect.

That was actually the one downside about this magical realm. She missed the mistakes. The stunted, imperfect pieces that you looked past in the real world, but always knew were there.

There wouldn’t be any trees with bald spots. None that were stunted or broken. Not one pine would have dead branches hanging down. If she saw one like that, she might even have chosen it, because she always felt bad for the lonely, overlooked things.

It was an odd thing to miss, but as far as downsides went, it wasn’t a terrible one. She could live with it, and with a perfect Christmas tree.

Master insisted on making sure she was properly dressed for the cold in a fur-lined parka and boots, and then they went tramping out into the snow to search for the tree. It took forever, and she rejected a number of them before she found the exact one she wanted.

They spent the afternoon putting it up and decorating it—and the fact that he kept his complaints about all the work to a low grumble made her smile. She knew he could have just made it happen, but it was the decorating together part that was important for her.

She surrendered that night.

Letting go of her stubborn pride wasn’t as hard as she’d thought it would be either.

They were lying on a soft blanket watching the lights on the tree as they went through a slow shifting pattern. It was almost hypnotic. She lost herself in the twinkling colors and let her thoughts drift.

It came to her suddenly that she was happy. That for the first time in years she felt absolutely safe and content. She had no fears, no worries and best of all, no loneliness.

Her dreams were coming true, one by one, not just the sexy fantasies, or the big wishes, but also the small hopes. He’d given her all of that, and it had cost her… nothing really.

She hadn’t left much of anything behind when she’d agreed to be his. Her new life was better than anything she’d had. When you combined that with the way he’d swooped in and rescued her, just when she’d needed him the most… she really had to admit she’d lost nothing but gained a whole world in exchange.

“I think… we know each other well enough now. Don’t you?” She said it softly and for a second, he was quiet. She turned her head, wondering if he’d even heard her, but the expression on his face made it clear he had.

“I guess we can agree on that.” A slight grin curved his mouth. “Are you ready to beg me to take you now?”

She groaned. That was the part she was dreading. Of course she’d begged him before, many times, but it was different in the middle of a scene. When her hormones were fired up and her pussy was dripping, it was easy to plead with him to take her.

“Please, will you—”

That’s as far as she got before he rolled over on top of her. His mouth came down on hers, tongue thrusting between her parted lips. It stole her breath away and she arched up against him.

The hunger she felt in his kiss kicked her arousal into high gear and her pussy clenched in a demanding way. His hand pushed between their bodies, shoving her thighs apart roughly, even though she was already spreading them for better access.

He growled as he tried to fit his hand under the skimpy panties she wore, finally he simply ripped them off her body and tossed them aside. The usual twinge of regret for the pretty, expensive things he ruined was absent. She didn’t care.

“Please, please hurry.” She clutched at his shirt, clinging to him.

His hand spread her open, the pad of his thumb stroking over her swollen clit. She was slick and wet already. The constant low simmer of arousal had become a flood of need almost immediately.

It was happening, finally.

She didn’t want him to take his time. She didn’t need him to go slow as he teased her with foreplay. The past few weeks had been nothing but foreplay that was only now finally reaching a conclusion.

His eyes were red as they stared down at her. Not glowing coals but fire, and she focused on them. “I need you in me… now.” She twisted and squirmed, feeling for his cock and trying to get under his clothing to grasp it. Any other time that demanding tone would have earned her a punishment, but this time he let it go.

“Slowly, bunny. I want you to enjoy this.” His voice was soothing. His hands were not. Fingers plunged into her sopping pussy, fucking her with quick deep thrusts that had her ass rising off the floor as she canted her hips.

“I promise you I’m going to enjoy the fuck out of this, no matter what. Do it.” Her voice was low, harsh with need.

He paused, panting as he examined her with an intense frantic expression that said he was barely holding on. “Are you sure?” The way he asked, it was clear he was reminding her that she was, by his definition, a virgin.

For a sadist he certainly could be a gentleman, at the worst possible time, of course. “Yes!” She was sure that she was going to lose her mind if he didn’t immediately put that long cock into her body and fuck her senseless. She was sure that it didn’t matter if it hurt, she would love the pain, the way she loved all the pain he brought her.

Master sat back and his clothes vanished. His erection sprang up, almost intimidatingly large, and she licked her lips at the sight of it. Something about her reaction broke through the violence he’d been suppressing. He looked… wild.

The animalistic side of himself seemed to be ripping free of the mortal trappings. “Mine. You’re mine now,” he snarled as he dragged her body across the floor.

There was no time to reply, or even to think. His hands, clawed now, gripped her by the hips and lifted as he shoved his way into her body with one long thrust.

It burned like fire as he stretched her to fit his length. The intensity took her by surprise, and she drew in a ragged gasp. Her hands clutched at his forearms and her internal muscles clenched tight around him—which increased the burn.

He didn’t move. “Breathe, zaychik. Breathe and relax. It won’t last long.” The strain of staying still was evident in his voice.

He was right. The burning slowly eased and when her expression relaxed, he began to move. The thrusts were slow and measured at first, shallower than the first one had been too.

She hesitated, waiting for the pain to spike again, but it didn’t. After a few nervous attempts, she found the rhythm and began to match his movements.

The wildness crept back into his eyes. The slow pace didn’t last after that. She didn’t want it to.

Her hips began to roll, urging him on, wanting to pull him deeper. There was a building and coiling low inside of her, pushing her toward something. She’d had orgasms before, but only alone, and nothing like this.

This was deep and heavy and it seemed to connect to every part of her. She couldn’t think. Everything was tactile sensations and emotions.

Her ears popped, and she tasted copper in her mouth, realizing only then that she’d been gnawing on her bottom lip until it bled. She stopped, but then she couldn’t hold back the noises. The groans and moans, the loud frantic breathing, but mostly the pleading for him to go faster, harder.

“Please, more. More, Master. I need—”

He pulled her up into his arms, covering her mouth, eating her words and sucking the blood from her lip as he continued to fuck her. Straddling his thighs allowed him to sink deeper into her body, but it also gave her some control over their pace.

While he devoured her mouth, she rolled her hips and worked herself up and down his shaft with increasing franticness. The pain was gone by then, and she almost missed that deep burning sensation.

The intensity of it made her know she’d been claimed. She was his.

And then her body was cresting on that wave. Lightning shot through her body making everything tighten. She clenched around his cock as the ripples rolled over her. His name ripped from her throat, and she dug her nails into his shoulders as she rode out the orgasm.

She slumped against his chest, panting and making little mewling sounds as she tried to cope with the pleasure that was short-circuiting her brain.

“Oh, no, princess. We’re not done yet.” He gripped her ass, a cheek in each hand and squeezed.

Aline was shattered, her mind fragmented. She whined. “I can’t move.”

He nipped her shoulder, not hard enough to break the skin, but enough to make her yelp and straighten. The movement set off aftershocks, and she clenched down tight around him. There was a brief echo of the pain from earlier and it turned into a dull throb.

He groaned and let go of her ass long enough to slap it hard. “Move, bunny. Ride me like a good girl, or I’ll find another hole to finish in.”

The threat inspired her to find the energy. She moved slowly at first, as she tried to catch the rhythm again, but she’d barely begun to roll her hips when a series of smaller orgasms began to trickle through her. They were less intense, those little pings of pleasure, she could enjoy them without losing track of what she was doing.

He encouraged her with heavy-handed swats whenever she faltered or fell out of rhythm. And he didn’t make her do all the work. When she sank down, he thrust up, and when they were in sync, he could hit the deepest parts of her. It burned in the best way.

Their breathing was so loud. The grunting and groaning from their exertions, and the slapping of skin on skin weren’t enough to drown out the panting sounds and it felt so feral—so animalistic. It went well with the heavy musky scent that seemed to fill the room.

She almost wished that he’d taken his Krampus form fully, not just his eyes and the heavy claws that had shredded the rest of her clothes, leaving her naked. But then she thought about the massive size of his cock in that shape and realized it would have been too much for her first time.

Maybe too much for any time. It could have split her open.

That shouldn’t have been a turn on, but it was. The image excited her, and she shivered as she worked herself up and down his length frantically. Her enthusiasm pulled him along until they were a blur of motion.

When he came, she knew it. Not just because of the way he bellowed and crushed her against him, but because she could feel the rush of hot liquid that seemed to fill her to bursting. When they ended up sprawled next to the tree, limp with exhaustion, she could feel it oozing back out of her like a sticky river.

She felt some kind of way about that, but she couldn’t describe it. It was oddly uncomfortable and still satisfying in a way.

They slept right there on the floor with the Christmas lights reflecting across their skin.