Chapter One

Current day, Tampa Bay at Temptation Club, Largo, Florida, U.S.A....

“Please, Master Slayer, I can’t hold it anymore. I need to come! Please... fuck me.”

“We’ve hardly begun, subbie. I’m far from ready to fuck you.” The loud cracking sound of the flogger’s leather strips on skin married with the cries and strikes echoing throughout the torture chamber of the exclusive BDSM club. “I need much more to get me high on endorphins before I will indulge in the need for sexual release. For now, I crave that euphoric high only a good, sadistic flogging offers me.”

Walking closer, he pressed his large body against the trembling form of the female submissive tied up on the St. Andrew’s Cross.

“You claimed to be a masochist when we discussed the scene. It seems that was a lie. Should I find a replacement, subbie? One who can take what I dish out?”

It had taken Master Slayer, aka Bogdan Rusu, years to learn how to channel Dom space on demand. Once he established the mechanism to achieve that coveted feeling by relaxing and focusing on the moment rather than chasing the altered state, he found it easy. Dom space was similar to what subspace was to submissives, except a Dominant had to stay in control during a scene since they had to remain sensitive to safe words and other signs that their partners were not comfortable or enjoying themselves.

However, to Bogdan, there was a kind of letting go that divorced him from the outside world and offered an escape from the stormy sea of emotions churning within while channeling his focus toward the submissive in a hyper-intense way.

It was the only means, during a narrow window, that he could lose track of time and the world around him while in Dom space. Where it felt like he was high on drugs with amplified sensations and a feeling as if he was out of his body. His sense of intuition was enhanced as he made a stronger, more intimate connection with the masochistic partners he scened with.

For Bogdan, it offered a brief yet precious escape from the hellish recollections that clung to him daily like ghosts hungry for his anguish. A reprieve from remembering that he had wasted his entire life loving a woman who, in the end, proved she never loved him.

Tonight, he couldn’t reach that much-needed space, no matter how hard he tried. His mind inevitably drifted back to that fateful day one year ago when he had confronted the only woman who he had loved his entire adult life, Zafira Guzun—a decision that haunted his dreams to this day. His chest tightened as he recalled how foolishly he had clung to the slender hope that she still harbored some residual affection for him. He had laid his soul bare, only to have her cruelly reject him with callous indifference.

“Vanya is wrong. You just can’t move on, can you? All these years...” He shook his head, and for the first time since he’d met her, he allowed a sadness to crawl over his face. “I wasted thirty years of my life hoping, missing out on companionship, love, having children because I was waiting... such a fucking waste.”

“Stop talking in riddles, Rusu. Say what you came to say, then leave. I have things to do, and you’re wasting my time... No! Let me go! What are you doing?”

Zafira gasped for breath as suddenly, he was in front of her with one of his huge paws curled around her throat as he pushed her back against the windowpane. Tension etched every line of his powerful frame as his hold tightened as he forced her onto her toes.

“Bogdan, stop,” she choked out, tears forming in her eyes. It was the fear that was painted over her face that doused his anger. His gaze softened, although his hold didn’t. With his thumb, he traced the fullness of her bottom lip as a sadness engulfed him when the truth finally hit home.

“So beautiful... and yet so cold.”

“B-Bogdan... please.”

“I’m done, Zafira. We end this now, one way or another.”

“End what?” she croaked, desperately clawing at his hand.

Disappointment was chiseled over his face at her response. A gulf of misunderstanding yawned wide between them.

“You just can’t admit how you...” He sighed. “So be it. I’m done defending myself, and I’m done being your emotional punching bag. You want me out of your life, Zafira? Then so be it... I’m gone.”

With a muffled oath and a final sweep of a rough fingertip over her lip, he released her and walked out with long, measured steps.

“No, Master Slayer! Please don’t find another sub. I can take it. I swear I can.” The pleading wail of the submissive yanked him back to the present.

Bogdan shifted restlessly as he fisted his hands until his knuckles turned white. His jaw was tight as he forced the surging emotions back behind the steel wall he had erected around his heart. He had no choice since, no matter how much time had passed, the searing pain remained as raw and fresh as an open wound.

God! I have been such a fool. He berated himself once more for wasting his entire life loving someone who never reciprocated.

Zafira hadn’t called out to stop him when he had left. Not a whimper, a whisper... no sound at all. She had watched him walk out of her life and accepted it.

That—more than the empty, lonely months since or the wasted years spent loving her—hurt most of all.

The electric light sconces cast dancing shadows across the room but brought no warmth to the cold emptiness devouring Bogdan from within. He yearned for the sweet oblivion of Dom space, to lose himself in an intimate scene where he was desired and in control. But the bitter memories of Zafira’s betrayal refused to loosen their vice-like grip on his mind, keeping his emotions churning like a volcano ready to erupt.

Enough! I’ve had enough. It’s time to move on, forget about her, and find another to fill my heart.

The thought came from nowhere, but he latched onto it like a starving leech. He needed to make a change quickly before the last of the little humanity he had left disappeared. He longed to feel human and filled with warmth from within again.

“I changed my mind.” The growl emitting from his chest, albeit gruff like the beast he was known as in the hallowed hallways of the club, was flat and emotionless. With quick, economic movements, he untied the trembling sub and picked her up. “Let’s go fuck.”

Master Slayer was known by the submissives as a Dom who didn’t play games. He spoke his mind and took what he was after, but only from those willing to play at his level. At times, with his piercing glare and cocksure attitude, some called him rude and obnoxious, but since his sexual exploits were on every woman’s lips who were regulars at the club, no one cared. As long as they got to be one of the lucky ones, ending up with him in the private rooms upstairs.

Casey, the submissive, scrambled back on the bed as he flung her down. His one eyebrow crawled upward in a mocking salute as he unfastened his belt with slow, deliberate intent.

“Changed your mind, subbie?”

“No. It’s just... you seem angry, Master Slayer. Don’t get me wrong, I love rough sex as much as the next one, but you look ready to rip me to shreds with your bare hands.”

Bogdan looked down at his hands, realizing they were curled into vicious-looking claws. No wonder the sub was having second thoughts. He might have allowed the sadist in him free rein the past year, but he always made a point of giving as much pleasure as pain. Yes, he fucked rough, but only if the sub was up for it, and he was assured she achieved a level of euphoria that surpassed any pain she might experience should he lose control. Not that he had to date, but like with everything in life, unforeseen shit happened.

Relaxing his muscles, he continued to undress. His eyes followed the valleys of her full figure. She was a favorite with the sadists at the club since she knew how to tease and unlock the beasts inside them without screaming and crying when the devil was unleashed—exactly what he needed tonight. He offered her a brief smile.

“You can relax, subbie. The sadist has gone to sleep... for now.” Naked, he kneeled on the bed, untouched by the way her eyes hungrily devoured his solid, muscled frame. Big, bulky, and strong, he represented a human beast, which was why he was called Master Slayer at the club—except no one here knew about his past, they had no idea how appropriate the name was to him as a man. “Get on all fours with your ass in the air. Keep your head down at all times. I suggest you grab hold of the slats of the headboard. Otherwise, I might drive you through the wall.”

Bogdan never had sex in the missionary position. He didn’t want to see the woman’s face he was fucking. All he needed was the warmth of a hot pussy clamping around his cock as he drove himself to release. Yes, it sounded heartless, but it was exactly how he had been able to survive all these years—having sex with other women while he remembered the few times he had the privilege of being with the one he loved. It was a poor substitute but the only way he could cope.

The brush of his hand over her left buttock cheek drew a surprised gasp from her.

Crack! Crack!

“Fuuuck!” she screamed as he smacked the shit out of her bottom. The two ruthless slaps immediately left bright red imprints on her white skin.

“I warned you to keep your head down. Look up again, and I walk away. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Master Slayer.” She whimpered as he scraped his nail over the abused part of her skin, igniting more pain to writhe through her. His dick responded with an excited twitch.

“Good girl.” A low, rumbling chuckle bounced off the walls as he swiped a finger through the slit between her labia. “I see this little pussy truly loves pain. Such a delightful aroma wafting through my nostrils, subbie. Indeed, an invitation I can’t refuse.” With his cock encased in a condom, he settled behind her and positioned the blunt tip of his cockhead at the entrance of her channel. With one finger toggling her clit and the other hand tugging and pinching her nipples, he pushed inside her body a half-an-inch. She wiggled her hips, moaning enticingly. “Are you ready, subbie?”

“Oh, fuck yes, Master Slayer.”

“Better hold on to those slats then, little whore, because this is going to be a fucking rough ride.”

“May I come, Sir?” The question was mumbled as she pressed her head into the pillow while clutching tightly at the bedposts.

“Come at will, subbie.” The laugh that followed sounded like Hades incarnate. “This isn’t going to be over quickly.”

“Then what are you waiting for, Master Slayer?” she taunted him as she moved her hips back, forcing his cock deeper. “Fuck me silly, Sir.”

A deep growl reverberated through the room as the next moment, he shoved his cock so hard into her, the bed slammed against the wall.

“Jesus Christ,” she screamed as his hard-driven thrusts pushed her already primed body to climax within seconds.

“Better keep breathing, subbie. That was only the beginning.”

Being tall and powerful, Bogdan pounding into her lifted her knees clear off the bed. Her screams of pleasure soon turned to pitiful cries of overindulgence as his huge cock kept driving into her mercilessly, forcing one climax after the other from her.

By the time he ejaculated, she was a limbless mess, weakly holding onto the slats, her body sleek with sweat as she gasped in labored breaths.

“Go take a shower. I’m going to get us something to eat. You need to re-energize for round two.” He smiled at her disbelieving look. “I find I enjoy the sound of your squishing cunt, subbie. I’ll be availing myself of its wetness until the sun rises.”

“Holy shit,” she wailed as she slipped from the bed and crawled toward the ensuite bathroom since her legs refused to cooperate.