“If we get to that point, I will certainly ask. Does that make you feel better?”

She looked up at him, fascinated by the molten gold of his eyes. The wolf was close, but he had exquisite control. “Some. Sir.” She remembered something else.

“What's my safe word?”

“'Red' to stop. 'Yellow' if you just need some breathing space.”

She nodded.

“Eva. I expect you to use your safe word if you need to. Everything will come to a complete halt. That's not a threat. It gives us a chance to reevaluate what we're doing. If you use your safe word, you won't be punished; it isn't a bad thing.”

She took a deep breath and let it out. “Thank you.” She was glad for that last bit of information. She could approach the scene with a little more objectivity.

Stopping if she needed to wasn't a failure.

“Ready?”

Like she had a choice? Eva nodded. Ready or not, this was it. Harte leaned against her; she felt the warmth and weight of his body. Darkness settled as he placed a mask over her eyes. Eva fought down the panic that rose with the blindness. Her world narrowed to the scent of Harte and the hard, smooth surface of the wood against her cheek.


He'd positioned her so that her feet were wide apart and just a few inches farther back than her shoulders. That gave just enough slope to her shoulders and back and brought her little bum out appealingly. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Kevin on the bottom stair. The omega flicked his gaze up to the other room.

So they were coming? That was fine with Harte. It was just what he needed at the moment. He was dangerously close to losing his self-control with Eva. As a dom and an alpha, he was all about control. As a wolf, he was all about losing control, and Eva tapped into his wolf like none ever had before.

He lifted a leather flogger and then set it down; he chose one with wider strips instead. He didn't want to start her with a flogger that would sting. In spite of her tolerance, tonight wasn't about pain; tonight was about teaching her to merge with her wolf. It was also about stripping away those layers of grief and pain that shone from her blue eyes. She couldn't join with her wolf until her emotions were laid bare.

Frankly, Harte didn't know why he was so desperate to have her complete obedience. It wasn't like she was pack. Though if she wanted to join his pack, they'd be facing negotiations of a completely different sort.

Wouldn't that be interesting? As fast as she'd stared Patrice down, he'd have a new alpha female within the week. Yes, she was that strong in character. She just didn't know it yet.

He swung the flogger, getting the feel of it, letting Eva hear it whisper through the air. She went taut in anticipation of the blow, so he let it settle gently on her shoulder. She flinched, expecting pain, but received only weight. He slid the strands of the flogger down her back and over the rigid corset, watching and scenting as she reacted. He repeated the movement on the other side and then back to the start. On the fourth swing, he struck hard across her buttocks, and she gasped.

Damn corset was in the way, but for now he left it, enjoying the way it manipulated the shape of her body. The heels of her boots served the same purpose, giving extra length to her legs and a sway when she walked. He began to bring the flogger up to speed, brushing the leather tips over her shoulders and arms and down to her hips and bottom. Abruptly he stopped, pleased with the light pink tone her skin was taking. There wouldn't be much pain, but the increased blood flow to her skin would heighten its sensitivity.

He made a production of searching in his bag, rattling and shifting items around, while in reality he already had what he needed. He stepped up close enough that he knew she felt him in her space. Instead of a blow, she received a kiss on the neck.

She shuddered, and Harte scented liquid arousal. Reaching around, he then traced his hands over her belly, imagining the corset coming off inch by inch, revealing her ivory skin and rounded breasts. He fought the urge to grind his cock into her ass, to cover her and take her right there. His shaft was hard and heavy; the wolf paced and whined in desperation. Succumbing just a little, he trailed the tip of his tongue up her neck and ended at the shell of her ear. He leaned in, pressing his erection against her bottom. He held a long feather between his fingers and trailed it along her skin.

“Can you smell them? Hear them?”

She shook her head.

“Use your senses, Eva. You can smell me, can't you?”

He saw legs encased in black suit pants making their way down the stairs. His hackles rose as the scent of the first man flooded his senses. “He smells like gun oil and hair product. Old Spice and sautéed onions. His right shoe squeaks just a little.”

He moved to her right and ran a hand down her cheek, smiling as she instinctively followed his touch. He'd been right about pain; the light flogging hadn't fazed her at all. She continued to instinctively challenge her bindings. She didn't like being helpless. On impulse, he swatted her ass with a bare hand.

Her wild-anger scent told him that she didn't like that at all. He'd found the chink in her armor. He grinned and laid his head next to hers. He felt the blood pulsing through her veins and pressed a kiss on her throat. He caressed her lips with the feather.

“Can you locate him?”

She frowned, cocking her head and focusing on her senses. “I hear him to my left. He's not on the stairs anymore. Sir.” Her whisper was as soft as his had been.

“Very good.” He turned her face and kissed her lightly. He then slapped her face sharply. She pulled her head back at the abrupt transition.

“That hurt!”

So he did it again. She jerked hard against her bindings.

“Be still!” he growled.

She took a series of deep breaths and stopped struggling. He didn't praise her obedience. Moving away, he then reached into his bag and brought out a cane. With the tip, he stroked up the length of her stockings, watching as she reacted to the feel of it on her inner thigh. She squirmed and then went very still when it passed lightly over her labia. Grinning, he pressed it up a bit tighter, watching her jump as it settled directly over her clit.

Without any preliminaries, he removed it and flicked it smartly over her ass.

“Shit!” She wiggled, trying to avoid the sting, but Harte was persistent, varying the blows, never falling into a predictable rhythm. He loved watching her shimmy and flinch, a private dance just for him and the slender, flexible wand.

A scream rang out, nearly shattering his concentration. At the station next to him, Master Patterson was laying into his sub hard—no warm-up, no warning. The man's face was stoic, and his sub for the night faced him as he flogged her breasts.

She stared intently into his face. Some were like that, and that was Patterson's style; he liked to administer a hard beating. He'd seen subs line up for the older man's services, and Patterson would tirelessly oblige.

“She's just venting. Remember, she's here because she wants to be. If she needs to stop, she'll tell him.” He'd noticed that Eva's attention had also been diverted.

“I know. She smells…excited.”

He stepped close again and ran his hands up her bare shoulders. His breath ruffled her hair. “What else do you smell?”

“You.”

That was a bit obvious. “And?”

“Someone furious. Angry.” Harte glanced around and spotted Master Torin marching a new sub to the Medieval Room. He wasn't dressed for the theme, and Harte stifled a grin at the thunderous expression on the human's face. His little sub had pissed him off royally.

Torin was bagged and tagged.

“There's only one hunter down here. He's…down by the bed where Kevin took me.” She paused and swallowed. Harte returned to his bag and pulled out a bottle of water. He opened it and gave her a sip, visually checking the bindings around her wrists while she drank. He'd take her down soon, after the hunter left.

“How do you see the world around you, Eva? What senses do you use?”

She paused to swallow her water. “Sight, hearing, smell.”

“No, that's the human way. They see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. We work in a different order.” She was attentive now, her focus completely on him. “Like wolves, we rely on our sense of smell, followed by hearing, sight, taste, and touch. It sometimes varies, but that's the general order.”

He took the bottle he held up to her and set it on the floor. While he was down there, he wrapped his hands around her ankles, just above the bindings. Slowly he ran his hands up her calves and circled around to the outsides of her thighs. She was very still, and her fragrance was sweet and alluring. Slowly he circled to the insides, finally cupping her mons through the silky fabric of her thong. She was wet.

“You're drenched. You're dripping into my hand.”

“Adrenaline does that. So does fear.”

“But you aren't afraid, are you, Eva?” He rested a cheek against her bare buttock, then rolled in to give her a light nip. She jumped. He kissed the spot he'd nipped, and moved his fingers, sliding the scrap of silk aside. She went very still. He slid one finger through the slick folds of her labia, hissing when she flexed automatically. She made a small, animal-like sound. He doubted that she was even aware she'd made it.

His fingers brushed lightly over her clit and then circled back to her entrance.

He pushed the tip of one finger inside, caught the juices, and pulled them backward to her ass. He pressed lightly just to check her response. She tightened and jerked away from his hand. Harte chuckled at her reaction. This was going to be fun.