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- Herausgeber: Lynn Burke
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
I had given up hope of finding my fated mates until a gifted dragonblood showed me a vision of my future: an alpha, a beta, and a female bonded by dragon flames and fulfilling our role in preventing the extinction of the Blood Born.
The violet-eyed beauty I seek and follow from the shadows is everything I and my beastly nature long for. Although past trauma has destroyed Ashley’s desire for physical connection, an inner force drives her toward healing.
The man offering her the pain she needs to find pleasure is a human dominant who calls to my primitive instincts. Master Vanni makes my weak inner dragon yearn to submit.
But I kneel for no man.
I am of royal blood, born to rule, and my future was determined long before Ashley or Vanni drew their first breath.
When insecurities about my royal heritage arise, I begin to question everything Father promised me as a child.
Will I find peace with my beastly side and accept who we are? Or will indoctrination keep me from the arms of the two destined for me?
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Destined by Dragonblood
BLOOD BORN 2
LYNN BURKE
Copyright © 2025 by Lynn Burke
All rights reserved.
Editor: Katherine McIntyre
Proof Reader: Deborah Peach
Cover Artist: Golden Czermak / FuriousFotog
Model: Charlie Gaddis
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review or article, without written permission from the author.
Visit my website at authorlynnburke.com
Contents
1. Dolyn
2. Vanni
3. Dolyn
4. Ashley
5. Vanni
6. Dolyn
7. Ashley
8. Vanni
9. Dolyn
10. Ashley
11. Dolyn
12. Vanni
13. Dolyn
14. Ashley
15. Vanni
16. Dolyn
17. Ashley
18. Vanni
19. Dolyn
20. Ashley
21. Vanni
22. Ashley
23. Dolyn
24. Vanni
25. Dolyn
26. Ashley
27. Vanni
28. Dolyn
29. Ashley
30. Vanni
31. Dolyn
32. Ashley
33. Dolyn
34. Vanni
35. Ashley
36. Dolyn
37. Ashley
38. Vanni
Epilogue - Ashley
About the Author
Also By Lynn Burke
Destined by Dragonblood
I had given up hope of finding my fated mates until a gifted dragonblood showed me a vision of my future: an alpha, a beta, and a female bonded by dragon flames and fulfilling our role in preventing the extinction of the Blood Born.
The violet-eyed beauty I seek and follow from the shadows is everything I and my beastly nature long for. Although past trauma has destroyed Ashley’s desire for physical connection, an inner force drives her toward healing.
The man offering her the pain she needs to find pleasure is a human dominant who calls to my primitive instincts. Master Vanni makes my weak inner dragon yearn to submit.
But I kneel for no man.
I am of royal blood, born to rule, and my future was determined long before Ashley or Vanni drew their first breath.
When insecurities about my royal heritage arise, I begin to question everything Father promised me as a child.
Will I find peace with my beastly side and accept who we are? Or will indoctrination keep me from the arms of the two destined for me?
Dolyn
I shifted into my dragon form, which ripped through flesh and bone without pain. For the first time in over a decade, pleasure welled inside me as I shot like a golden comet southward through the afternoon sky. Emotional torment slid from my mind as the brisk wind swept over my heated scales and spines like a lover’s soothing touch.
I’d found out moments earlier that Elijah had replaced me with two other lovers, and I could still feel his female’s hand on my chest like a fiery brand. The visions that had flitted through my mind at her touch remained crisp.
Blindingly brilliant in color.
Vivid images of the two creatures she stated were intended for me remained ingrained in the deepest parts of me.
Elijah’s female, Dakota, had a gift of old due to the ancient dragonblood flowing through her veins. A minuscule amount, however, not even enough that I had been able to scent it on her. I’d declared her unworthy of my ex-lover, but he’d been adamant in his claiming of both her and the woman’s husband, Jon.
Fated mates, he’d called them, the ones meant for him—drawn to him by his alpha dragonblood.
With Elijah’s sexual prowess and his beast’s desire to dominate, I didn’t doubt he had bonded with the couple seconds after I’d thrown my human body off the veranda of his home deep in the White Mountains. I’d done so in order to shift and escape the pain of seeing them complete Elijah in ways I had never been able to but also to seek out my own destiny.
Cloaked from human eyes, I flew toward where I would find the female dragon in the vision Elijah’s mate had shown me. While I’d seen a pale gray beast, purple-blue eyes were a rarity and ought to make my female easier to identify in human form. Further description and a name known to Elijah had offered me all the information I needed to locate one of the two who belonged to me.
Ashley O’Connor, according to my ex-lover who employed her as one of his secretaries, was a petite brunette, demure and fragile in her emotions, a woman who would require gentle handling from a traumatic past he wasn’t fully aware of.
Like Father before me, as alpha, it was my responsibility to protect the female fate held in wait for my future. But unlike Father, I would treat the third party in our triad, my beta, differently than he had. I’d endured watching Father belittle his subservient male mate with unkind words that rang through my mind centuries later.
Unworthy.
Inferior.
Both of which, in my opinion, applied to the two Elijah had chosen.
They were nothing more than mere humans who didn’t have the ability to shift, two beings who would never be a good match other than to make him feel he owned the alpha status he’d always claimed during the years he and I had spent together.
My human flesh and mind refused to bow to another, but my dragon used to purr with delight over every lash of Elijah’s whip, every crack of his cane across my backside, every thrust of his hips that had buried his long length deep inside me.
It had been twenty years into our relationship before I initially submitted my body—never my mind or status—out of desperation to bond with Elijah. I’d only done so in the hopes that we would find our female and breed her since no other shifters walked the earth. It took three dragonblood to create life, and I’d instinctively done what was necessary to see our species survive. But all the sacrifices I had made, the past I’d left behind to be with Elijah, and he’d still chosen Dakota and her husband over me, one of royal blood, their superior in every way.
My alpha father had told me from the time I could remember that I had been born to dominate, and he had raised me to be a protector. An assertive leader. A man who wouldn’t bend the knee to another.
While soiled by Papa, my beta father’s lesser bloodline, the fact Father used to rule the Western world made me his sole heir, the last alpha of our line no matter what others believed.
Elijah had shown no desire or intention to submit to me, and while he could have coerced me into being his mate as Father had claimed dragonblood of old used to do, Elijah hadn’t. My lover of seventy years had gifted me the right to choose, and our coming together had been a battle from day one, a delicious tug-of-war that had always ended up with our bodies sated and covered in cum, sweat, and once, tears.
The final war between us had left my soul broken and bleeding, and I’d flown from our home in a last attempt to find our fated mate who would recognize me as the alpha and help Elijah see the truth of his station beneath me.
And in my absence, while I’d given up the comfort of our home hidden in the mountains to scour the entire earth for the one who would make us whole, he’d taken up with mere humans.
A wind gust slammed me in the face, causing me to blink and spin toward earth. Rather than lament being replaced, I allowed myself a moment of freedom from despair while tumbling through the sky, imagining myself grappling midair with the beta I would soon claim if Dakota’s vision held true. Once I owned my violet-eyed Ashley, fate would no longer hide its gift of a beta from me. I would locate the bridge between me and my female, and we would finally be brought together in perfect timing to ensure our mating lasted for centuries.
The images Dakota had shown me flashed through my mind, revealing the slender gray beast with light purple eyes, the beat of my heart, one of my reasons for existence. And the other who would bring us together to breed…a lithe, black-scaled creature with brilliant green orbs.
Dakota had claimed him to be my alpha.
A snort erupted from my nostrils, steam rippling through the air behind me as I sped above thickening populated land with a flap of leathery wings. Beta, I had corrected her immediately because no partially human dragonblood would ever rule over a royal Blood Born. I’d been raised to be an alpha in our triad, and nothing would convince me otherwise.
I snapped my tail and careened into a gleeful roll, but fate called. Another strong push of my wings rushed me through the cold toward the cityscape on the horizon—New York.
Lower Manhattan and Tolzman Industry’s building specifically.
Five o’clock neared, the time of day when Elijah’s employees spilled onto the streets, bustling to return to their peace. The perfect hour for me to hide myself and watch for the woman I would soon claim as my own.
* * *
Towering sky rises above me blocked out the final rays from the sinking sun. Brisk wind continued to buffet through the streets as I stood in front of Elijah’s building, the main entrance glass doors allowing me a peek into the brightly lit lobby. Warmth flooded my bloodstream, in contrast to the sinking temperature on my human skin.
Naked and camouflaged, I leaned against a light post, hidden from sight to those scurrying past in their rush to return home after a long workday. I’d come directly from Elijah’s, not having time to stop by the penthouse suite I owned but rarely utilized. It was one of many escapes I’d kept from Elijah’s knowledge along with the rest of my physical assets and wealth from having invested in America’s stock market since its inception. As alpha, I’d never felt the need to include Elijah in the various outlets of my life outside the physical, same as Father had done with Papa.
But there were other secrets I’d hidden from him.
I chose to put the past behind me when I’d finally submitted my body to Elijah that wintery day in 1962, after agreeing to pursue companionship with each other since there were no other of our species that we’d found in our years together prior to that day.
But my heart and head refused to submit fully, thus the constant battle for dominance between us.
Now, a fresh start lay before me where not even the sky was the limit.
Something far greater than a tumultuous relationship with another self-proclaimed alpha awaited me, a gift from fate for having lived too many centuries seeking to bond and breed as a Blood Born’s instincts demanded.
A low whine drew my attention off Elijah’s building. Some sort of raggedy, downtrodden dog peered up at me. Hunger shone in his eyes, bones protruding along his gray-speckled chest, further evidence he hadn’t eaten in a while.
I bent, running my hands over his filthy head. “Who’s a good boy?” I murmured, keeping my voice low so no one became aware of my invisible presence.
A lick over my face made me smile, and I scratched behind his matted ears. “You need someone to take care of you, don’t you, boy? Hmm?”
He rolled onto his back, giving me his belly, and I scratched, glancing over at Elijah’s building.
Employees began their exodus from Tolzman Industries, and I inspected every dark-haired woman for a glimpse of the one Dakota’s vision had revealed as my new friend continued to gladly accept my weighted strokes and murmurs of praise.
Minutes passed without my female’s arrival beneath the evening sky, and the rush of people turned into a trickle, unease prickling the back of my mind. Had I somehow missed Ashley in the throng? Was her dragonblood of so little potency that she had escaped without me catching the scent of her? My forehead etched into a deep furrow.
No. I refused to believe she would be unnoticeable, that she could have slipped by me countless times in the final month I’d spent in this very city searching for Elijah’s and my female. I had admitted defeat and returned to him empty-handed, determined to offer him every part of me in the hopes we might find some sense of contentment together.
I hated to believe my human side’s alpha nature hadn’t been able to locate Ashley after ten years of searching, but I’d grown desperate. Eyes closing, I sought out my inner beast, the one Father had taught me to rule with an iron fist—the lesser beta-like creature within me that I refused to bow down to. Rarely did I allow him equal rein, but I felt I had no choice.
“I need you.” I muttered defeat I rarely admitted to, unleashing his instincts instead of only his beastly form I required to take flight.
Embers hot as lava flared in my gut as I lowered the walls between us, a rumbling of life cracking through the manacles I used to shackle his natural inclinations.
Yips sounded and quickly faded, saddening me for scaring my new friend away when I could have provided a better existence for him.
A cackle of glee over sudden freedom flared like flames in my chest, nearly bursting through my skin, but I managed to retain my human form.
Relief oozed through my pores as my inner beast settled, shivers pebbling my skin. A sense of rightness I despised began to weave our minds into each other, allowing both of us equal control. He tended toward greediness, so I lay in wait, ready to smother him at a moment’s notice if necessary.
I quickly glanced around, heart aching over the missing dog.
Breathe…
Embracing our true self, we opened our airway fully, drawing oxygen deep into our lungs, scenting through the beast’s senses rather than our lesser human’s. Clogging exhaust burned our nostrils. A wafting stench of sewage curdled our guts. Putrid traces of body odor and cigarettes clung to those passing us by. Cloying perfume and spiced aftershave hit our nose, both of which caused a grimace to stretch our lips.
Vanilla, sweet as syrup—
Our eyelids snapped upward. Movement slowed as though we’d suddenly been submerged in water. Silence descended, stifling regardless of the beauty before us.
Like a siren, our female called to us while stepping from Tolzman’s doors into the breeze, dark strands floating past her face, covering the eyes we lusted to see. Flushed, high cheekbones, a dainty, pointed chin…full lips our tongue lusted to stroke and taste, urged us to drink our fill and flooded our senses with everything that she was and imprinted them for all of eternity into our memory.
Arousal swelled through our groin like a tidal wave, causing an instant ache as she paused mere feet from us. We leaned toward the source of our need, energy rippling outward like a massive swell, attempting to drown us in desire. While my human half disliked anyone touching us other than those worthy of our attention, this female made our skin itch for caresses and kisses.
Need.
She lifted a trembling hand to tuck nearly-black hair behind a perfectly formed ear, baring what we longed to see.
Dark lashes framed the violet-colored eyes our human side had caught a glimpse of in Dakota’s vision. Though less in brightness and intensity, there was no mistaking the irises of the woman before us. The faintest scent of her dragonblood filled our merged noses and lungs, assuring us she was our female. She was much more human than beast, but her beauty, the allure of her scent, caused my superior half to not care about her lesser blood as much as I’d expected.
Ours.
Indeed, she was.
The instinct to hold and protect her set like stone in our mind and heart. We would move heaven and earth to see her safe from harm, content with life, and smiling with joy.
Ashley stared at us—no, through us—as though the essence of our presence escaped her. She didn’t feel or recognize the energy fate wished to utilize to weave us together, same as I wouldn’t have done without my beast’s instincts. The draw of dragonblood fated mates went completely unnoticed to the one meant to be by our side.
She blinked and turned away, giving us her back as though we meant nothing to her.
Pain ripped through our chest, and reality snapped back into real time, bringing with it the vivid bleak city surrounding us that reiterated our loneliness we’d fought to fill for too many years.
Nothing would offer release to our aching cock but her wet warmth, her submission to our tender touch.
Follow.
While in flight to New York, we had already made a plan for claiming her. Like Elijah’s, my beast wasn’t above coercion, but the human half of us preferred to have our female come to us willingly. Softened for our gentle initiation, accepting of her place—recognizing who owned her body and soul. That part of us didn’t want her obedience and submission given unknowingly or grudgingly.
Accomplishing such a task required a firm grip. Control.
And patience, which our beast side struggled with.
I shackled my inner dragon’s instincts before he realized what I did, taking charge. He grumbled at me in my head, but I muzzled him, my sole focus on the one hurrying down the sidewalk in front of me.
She kept her head lowered and could easily disappear into a crowd undetected. But not to me. Having seen and scented Ashley through my beast’s senses, she stood out like a beautiful rose among thorns, the brightest star in the night sky. She was a beacon of hope, the promise of a new beginning.
Ashley and I might be meant for one another, but I wanted contentment and perhaps a true love like I longed for yet had failed to see or feel in. And that needed to be earned above the supernatural draw between us that I hoped she would experience when I was ready to reveal myself to her.
After a childhood of having to watch a disjointed triad of Blood Born fated mates, I yearned for the type of harmony spoken of in poetry and songs. Equal give and take on all three sides, a sharing of hearts atop minds that would be linked once we properly bonded.
While severely less in intensity without my beast’s abilities to smell, hints of vanilla continued to tease my nose and keep me aroused as I followed my sweet female through the mass of people hurrying to escape the bustle of the city.
Ashley descended into the depths of the subway, and I shut out the rest of the world from my mind. A dark blue peacoat covered her narrow shoulders and the top half of her backside. Black slacks with a wider leg around her ankles brushed against what appeared to be leather boots. Even with the inch or so heel, the shoes wouldn’t bring the top of her head to my chin.
She was a delicate little thing in need of an alpha of my stature and strength, but not enough dragonblood swam in her veins to inform her the one she must long for stood an arm’s length behind her.
Even shut into a stifling subway train, Ashley took no note of me on her right side or how my naked body craved hers with pulsing throbs throughout my cells. Through clicks and clacks of the rails, we moved, the bumps shifting us side to side but not bringing us into contact with each other where we huddled amidst the crowd.
I couldn’t tear my gaze off the paleness of Ashley’s cheeks, the ripe pink of her mouth, and the hint of freckles over her nose. She didn’t attempt to cover what some would see as blemishes with makeup. No fake contour shaded her skin, nor did mascara clump her lashes together. Ashley O’Connor bled beauty from every pore, the kind of perfection others paid thousands to achieve.
Even with her curves hidden by the coat keeping the fall chill at bay, I found her more alluring than any human I’d set eyes upon, and traveling the entire planet had allowed me to behold every race known, every species unknown, to man.
She made my mouth water, my groin ache, and my heart race.
A muffled voice announced we’d entered New Jersey, and I stuck close to Ashley as she exited the train a short while later. I followed her down Walnut Street on silent, bare feet, continuing to drink in her luscious scent, my thick shaft pointing toward her like a homing beacon. We slowed at a row of condos, and I moved farther into the shadows even though she wouldn’t be able to see me with her human eyes until I uncloaked myself, which was out of the question in my current state of undress.
With a quick glance around as though finally sensing a stalker, Ashely quickly unlocked her front door and slipped inside her home, which was bracketed on either side by others of similar build and color. The sound of various bolts slid into place behind her, prohibiting me from entering without force, which I refused to do.
As the minutes passed, daydreams flooded my mind, and I allowed myself to fantasize over our future. Far beyond merely sinking into her tight heat and flooding her with my seed but building a life together. Cooking alongside each other. Cuddling on the couch, sharing about our day. She was employed by Elijah, which meant she held a good work ethic. She also hadn’t cut out early but must have stayed to finish up whatever task she’d been assigned for the day.
I allowed myself to envision our beta between us, creating the bridge that would physically and emotionally tie us together for life. I could only imagine how the bond would snap into place, dropping all walls among us, allowing thoughts and feelings to flow through us like an unhindered stream, healthy and vibrant, full of life.
Euphoria would be found in her arms, heaven on earth alongside our beta.
A real smile curved my lips for the first time in too many years to count. Hope swelled inside me to the point where I inadvertently lowered my guard, and my inner beast whimpered his need to know such happiness.
I want.
Refusing interaction with my dragon came easy. Not hearing him when he reminded our human half of his existence proved harder since I’d removed the walls between us while in Lower Manhattan, thus granting him power that would linger for a short while.
I yearn.
Closing my eyes briefly, I allowed him to further experience the misery I’d managed to shed from my mind while flying away from Elijah’s mountain home. We’d been found wanting and set aside, but I wasn’t jaded enough that I didn’t desire the same as my beast did. I longed to share in the physical as well. The touch of skin I rarely allowed, the heat of arousal, the release of climax that had been brewing in my sac since first scenting Ashley.
Take what belongs to us.
I’d given the bastard an inch, allowing him speech, and he took a mile. Using full sentences to make demands hadn’t been tolerated in close to a decade.
However, the temptation to do as he pushed tensed my body toward action rather than stifling his voice as I ought to. The truth that I could easily break into Ashley’s condo without raising alarm and claim her before she thought to scream caused my muscles to tremble and shaft to throb. I had yet to sniff over her skin and fully indulge in her scent. I didn’t yet have the pleasure of tasting her sweet breath on my tongue. But the idea of doing both hardened me to the point of pain, and a bead of pre-cum welled on my swollen cockhead. I ignored the lone droplet sliding down my length. A pulsing stream should have oozed from my body like Elijah’s had done whenever he’d experienced arousal.
Proof we are beta.
“Be silent,” I growled. I disregarded him and the lack of moisture as I’d been doing since learning about an alpha dragonblood’s sexual mechanics, focusing on the dark panel of glass keeping me from fulfillment.
The beast began to hiss and claw at his inescapable bonds instead of insisting on what I refused to accept.
“We will study Ashley’s ways,” I stated, hoping to shift his focus to what truly mattered, same as I had done. “Learn about her life, those she surrounds herself with and loves. Her habits, what she does for enjoyment. Only then we will decide on a course of interaction.”
Curses over my flesh’s dominance echoed in my head as my dragon shrieked his displeasure.
“You forget yourself.” Centuries of practice made keeping hold on my inner beast easy once I muzzled him.
He sulked in silence as I tore myself away from our female’s presence for the nearest intersection. I shifted skin and muscle, elongated bone into the shape that allowed me flight, all while retaining control over my beast. One leap upward and a flap of wings shot me into the dark sky. Night caressed my scales as a lover might, something I hadn’t had the pleasure of enjoying in far too long of a time.
No one since Elijah had touched my flesh—dragon or otherwise—because of their unworthiness, and both my beast and I trembled in our shared need for release.
We had found our female, but every part of me craved more than softness and gentleness. My skin tightened with the need to feel biting pain. Stinging lashes. Impact play that would send endorphins rushing throughout my body and empty my brain of unceasing thoughts.
With Ashley located, I expected to soon cross paths with my beta, the submissive male who would complete us. He would have no interest in inflicting what the secret part of me sometimes craved, therefore, I would allow myself a single night of weakness before fate settled into place.
Since Elijah was no longer an option to give me what I ached for, I would have to locate a club in New York that catered to those who preferred pain with their pleasure. Surely, finding a human dominant wouldn’t be difficult. I would allow him to hurt me but without skin-to-skin contact. He would offer the kind of release I needed one last time before I walked away from that part of me.
Then I would prove myself worthy in Father’s eyes by claiming my place as alpha over my destined mates.
Vanni
I sipped my tonic water, the hint of lime a pleasant zing over my tongue while gazing through my office’s one-way glass, keeping me hidden from sight.
The lounge below me was busy for a Wednesday night. Couples and singles looking for a hookup or simply enjoying the dimmed, sensual atmosphere of my sex club mingled around the large room. Leather couches and chairs created more intimate areas, breaking up the space. A bondage frame, St. Andrew’s cross, and whipping post along with various types of spanking benches sat atop daises throughout the open area, available for those with exhibition and voyeur kinks.
Two pieces of the furniture meant to bring pleasure were currently in use, but no part of my body aroused at the sight of the wielded flogger or whip. Even had the sound-proofing of my office been absent, the cries of both pain and heightened desire wouldn’t have affected me.
My mind remained focused on the cell phone I’d left atop my desk and the news app I’d checked as I always did when the evening hours drew closer. Hand steady regardless of how my insides shook, I sipped my tonic again, fighting to remain calm and in control.
After ten years, Caroline finally married my best friend, the man who’d stolen the one I’d thought had been the love of my life.
The tumbler shattered in my clenched hand.
“Fuck.” I pursed my lips, my focus dropping to the hardwood flooring littered with bits of glass and clear liquid. The lime wedge sat atop my soaked black dress shoe. Lifting my left wrist, I stated an order into my watch that would bring someone to clean up the mess.
I eyed the two small lacerations on my right palm and turned toward the full bathroom attached to my office. Neither cut was deep or stung, but I washed thoroughly, making sure no glass shards remained imbedded in my skin. I’d always been freakishly strong, but never had I ever squeezed a glass until it broke into pieces.
A knock sounded from out in my office.
“Come in!” I hollered while checking to make sure the bleeding had stopped.
“Master Vanni?” one of the submissive employees who kept my club pristine called.
“I dropped my drink by the window, and the glass shattered.” I explained the reason for my summons, leaving out the part where I’d broken the tumbler in anger.
They took care of the mess I’d made while I finished with my injury before glancing up at the mirror. The ten years since Caroline left hadn’t exactly been kind. At forty-two, I grayed at the temples, but I kept my dark hair on the longer side and over my ears, which hid evidence of my aging from sight. Slight lines marred the skin at the corners of my eyes, but there was no sagging on my face or the rest of my body, for that matter.
Having lost my wife to another man, I’d focused on bettering myself in every way. My darker desires had led to my marriage’s ruination, but I no longer had to restrain myself or give up my need to dominate. I sought out knowledge and mastership of the kinks that had turned her off. I’d also honed myself into a machine built of muscle and sinew by cleaning up my eating, hitting the gym every day, and treating my body like the gift it was.
Depression had threatened initially after the betrayal, but I’d strived to keep my mind off Caroline’s infidelity, going so far as to seek out therapy for the grief. She’d wanted a side dish, and because I adored my wife, I had invited Jackson, a gentle soul, to join us to fulfill her fantasy of a threesome. He had been the one man I’d trusted, the best friend I had made my first million with. I’d bought him out of the software company after catching him and Caroline fucking, without my knowledge or consent, two weeks after he and I had shared my wife. He’d agreed to less than half of the company’s worth. Out of guilt, I expected, and we hadn’t spoken since.
Over ten fucking years, and no matter the hours I’d spent chatting with a shrink, the sting of betrayal still struck whenever I came across either of their names anywhere online.
Left alone in my office once more, I wiped off my shoe and settled into my chair, eyeing my cell phone where it lay, its screen dark.
Swiping would only keep me rooted in the past, a painful void I hated to revisit. And while I feared vulnerability, living in emotional isolation would never give me what I truly wished for.
I desired a love I could trust to remain faithful. A partner who accepted every part of me, kinks included. While I’d become confident in the aspects of my life I could control, the absence of someone to share it with continued to nag at me like my mom did to my dad.
A shudder rippled through my spine, and I grimaced. Pulling open the bottom drawer of my desk, I blamed my parents for being the final trigger to make me go for what I’d wanted earlier rather than that damned tonic.
The welcomed burn of whiskey coated my throat, and I put the flask back where it belonged, closing the drawer. Liquor had no place in my club or inside what I considered my temple, which housed my liver. But once in a while, shit happened, and the thoughts of my parent’s marriage of convenience atop Caroline made for a good reason to enjoy one shot.
I pushed aside my cell and opened my schedule for the night ahead, ready to turn my focus elsewhere.
Eight months earlier, I’d sold off my company for twice what it was worth, leaving me with nothing to occupy my mind but my money, the sex club, and fanciful dreams of finding contentment with a submissive who would match perfectly with my strengths and weaknesses. I’d since seemed to flounder, a sense of…something hovering on the horizon, but what it might be, I had no clue. Itchiness lay beneath my skin, making me restless, and more often than not, I yearned to take out my aggression on a willing body.
While I rarely allowed people in the lifestyle to drop in without a membership, a man with deep pockets had inquired about a caning from the most sadistic dominant on staff.
That person would be me.
According to the paperwork he’d filled out and returned in a matter of hours, he was desperate for pain—my kryptonite and exactly what I needed tonight. Even better, he had very few limits, penetration being one I myself held when it came to men. While I enjoyed anal sex, no man’s asshole, or body for that matter, had ever tempted me to question my sexuality.
According to this man’s file, his second hard limit was skin-on-skin contact, same as my favorite little submissive I would be sceneing with again next Friday night.
Ashley had witnessed countless club members on spanking benches getting their asses handed to them while moving through the lounge the previous five evenings she’d come to my club, but I never allowed myself the hope of seeing her give herself to me in that way. So far, she’d asked to be tied down spread-eagle on a bed, behind closed doors where I could use toys to give her what she wanted, but never touched in the way I desired.
Timid and shy, kind and sweet, she submitted beautifully to the pain she required in order to feel arousal and eventually find release. I hadn’t been informed, nor was it my place to ask about her past or what had led to her need to be dominated, but I knew it stemmed from far more than mere kink.
Ashley had been referred to me by Doc Hasslet, a sex therapist and good friend of mine who hadn’t told me more than the fact she had major PTSD triggers she wished to overcome, including no skin contact. While I knew she dealt with trauma from years earlier, I honored her privacy and never asked—merely gave her what she required to get off.
I rarely scened with a person more than once unless they signed forms clearly outlining my own hard limits of getting emotionally involved and dating. But something about the woman roused my protective instincts, and I had agreed to Doctor Hasslet’s suggestion of meeting with Ashley on a monthly basis. She had stolen my breath at first sight and part of my heart the Friday before. She had finally allowed aftercare, so I burrito-wrapped her body to keep her skin safe from touching mine and cuddled her tight against my chest.
Holding her had been heaven, far more fulfilling than I even remembered my ex-wife feeling in my arms.
I wanted more with Ashley, even though I feared lowering my walls would lead to heartache and humiliation. Had I been able to trust a person with my heart and thoughts, she would be the woman I would choose.
Heaving a heavy exhale, I focused on the computer screen in front of me rather than continuing to linger on wishes and dreams I longed to see fulfilled yet feared to the point my stomach tightened. Triggered by my own past trauma I had sought out help for years earlier, I was more than in the mood to have someone submit to my hand. Beg for release while crying for mercy.
A sense of power rose up inside me, a desperate craving to dominate and relieve that itch I’d been craving to satisfy.
I eyed the man’s name.
Dolyn.
Warmth I hadn’t felt since sceneing with Ashley infiltrated my body, heightening my pulse.
Never had a man physically turned me on, but I reasoned my arousal away due to my intense desire to dominate after the shit day I’d had.
Hopefully, this Dolyn guy and I would be able to fulfill each other’s needs tonight without issue, and we would both leave my club satisfied.
* * *
The sight awaiting me in my private play room pulled me up short inside the door.
Rather than kneeling in wait as a submissive club member would have done, Dolyn remained standing, every inch of his hairless, golden skin on full display. He appeared like a statue chiseled from stone—cock included—and my mouth filled with moisture.
Heat rushed through my body, settling into my groin and making my leather pants suddenly way too tight. Perhaps going commando hadn’t been the best choice, but I hadn’t been expecting this type of physical reaction toward a man.
Dolyn was a magnet, drawing me closer and tempting me to partake of something new, and I had no qualms about exploring this awakened part of me. Since I wasn’t sure how to do so without physical touch, I would rely on intuition more than logic.
I shut the door, leaving us in silence, completely cut off from the outside world. A hush, full of tension and expectation, flooded the room and made the hairs on my nape stir.
Our gazes held, sending a zing of pure lust straight to my cock and causing a full hard-on, which I didn’t mind in the slightest. His audacity to keep his golden brown eyes latched onto mine, however…
I raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t drop his focus to the floor as one ought to do when their master for the next hour entered the room.
Dolyn’s chin tipped upward in a slight hint of defiance, almost like he…looked down at me. As if those two inches he had on me made him superior. He didn’t realize exposing his neck in such a way suggested the opposite.
Giddiness lit in my stomach, spreading throughout my limbs, but I bit my grin back while blatantly adjusting my bulge. I approached, already knowing from his file I’d gone over a few times before dressing in my leather pants and harness that Dolyn disliked submitting.
And yet he’d paid to feel the bite of a cane.
A puzzle for sure, unexpected and thoroughly exciting. Also none of my business. I was in this room for one purpose alone: Give him his money’s worth of pain while enjoying the hell out of my mental release or more, depending on how our scene progressed.
Dolyn stared straight ahead as I slowly circled him, taking in his muscled mass. His shoulders, set back in confidence, were wider than my own. The V shape of his back would cause any bodybuilder envy, the dimples and swell of his ass a dominant’s dream. Thick thighs, bulging calves…hell, even his feet were perfectly formed.
Sex on a stick took on a whole new meaning, as did Greek god. Dolyn was the perfect specimen of a man, but nothing about him intimidated me or suggested he had a dominant bone in his body, regardless of his stance and the claims he’d made on the forms.
Something inside me insisted I let out that damned chuckle, but I stifled the sound for the second time, sure he would be offended by my amusement over the front he attempted to put on.
I rounded Dolyn to face him, and as though drawn to me, he leaned closer regardless of him attempting to peer down his nose at me.
Less than a foot separated our flesh, and heat zaps like lightning ignited between us.
And I thought I’d experienced lust and desperation to dominate before.
Nothing compared to the intense want vibrating inside me. Dolyn’s unconscious desire to submit begged me to attend to him, explore the desire he attempted to deny, and reward him for yielding to me. Every cell of my being craved to command him, mark his skin, and watch him sink into subspace, which I sensed he yearned for regardless of his facade.
I despised being lied to, and this man reeked of dishonesty.
Or perhaps he simply didn’t yet understand the depths of his true self, thus denying he was a submissive creature by nature.
“Why are you here, Dolyn?” I had no right to his personal business, but if there were triggers he’d left unlisted and I inadvertently ignited, shit might get ugly. I refused to have that kind of drama in my club.
A muscle ticked in his jaw, and he either showed his first outward sign of submission by shifting his focus to the wall behind me or he did so out of guilt for lying.
I wasn’t convinced he would know the real reason if I asked.
“I crave pain and am allowing myself one last night to indulge.” His low voice, husky as though he’d smoked for years, slid over my skin, awakening every hair follicle on my body.
I breathed deeply, filling my lungs with the scent of fire and smoke—but not tobacco. More along the lines of...cedar embers.
Delicious.
The unexpected descriptor whispered through my mind, but I studied Dolyn’s full lips, somehow knowing he would be the embodiment of that word and so much more.
“Master Vanni,” I murmured the title he’d forgotten when addressing me.
“No man is my master.”
I looked forward to proving him wrong. “Sir, then,” I stated firmly, giving my attention to the rest of his face to see what other tells he gave away.
Jaw clenched, Dolyn nodded, the golden glints in his whiskey-colored eyes giving way to swelling pupils. Pink flushed his cheeks, the throbbing pulse in his neck suggesting he was as equally affected by our proximity as I was.
I crowded his personal space, loving how my body responded. I felt alive for the first time in years, completely enthralled and focused on my purpose. Horny as fuck and ready to give this man whatever he requested.
“You listed two limits,” I stated, needing them repeated out loud considering the undeniable attraction between us.
“Skin contact and penetration, Sir.” He echoed what he’d written on his forms, much to my disappointment. “I have an aversion to the first when it comes to humans, which makes the second an impossibility.”
“Humans,” I repeated, perplexed, but not inflecting my voice with a question for clarity. “Have you ever been fucked, Dolyn?” I found myself asking, my shaft bucking at the thought of sinking my length between his ass cheeks, past his tight ring, and into the silken heat of his core.
“Yes, Sir.”
A low hum rose past my lips as I pressed in even closer, mere inches separating us. My heartbeat throbbed in harmony with my groin, much as it did when I pushed Ashley’s limits. “Did you like having a hard cock thrust deep into your guts?” I murmured, hands fisting to keep myself from caressing over his stiff length.
He swallowed audibly, a slight tremor rippling over him as his hands clenched briefly before releasing. “Yes,” he whispered, once more forgetting to address me properly.
I eased back slightly since biting his lower lip in punishment was off-limits, and I needed some space to breathe, as did he.
If Dolyn had enjoyed having his ass owned, why did he use the word “aversion”? Past trauma, I supposed, same as Ashley, but suspicion had me believing Dolyn’s issue stemmed from more. Did he crave the pain as some form of penance? The hard length straining toward his belly button and the droplet of pre-cum oozing down his shaft suggested he was here for more than a punishment.
Like me, he ached for relief.
I had no right to question why he’d come to my club. Opposite in their desires to submit, Dolyn and Ashley were two peas in a pod with their distaste for physical contact, and while both of them intrigued the hell out of me, only one stood ready to be taken care of tonight.
Dolyn deserved my full focus, and I would gift it to him.
I straightened my spine in readiness to give this man exactly what he needed from me—a cold-hearted beating that would ease his conscience and maybe empty his firmed ball sac if he could come untouched.
The conflict over his written answers and tells, however, required a verbal response to a question he hadn’t provided on his forms.
“What is your safeword?”
Dolyn returned his gaze to me, and I swore fire flashed in his eyes and blinked out. “I don’t need one, Sir.”
“The fuck you don’t,” I whispered, leaning closer. “What you crave, the lust for agony I feel radiating off your skin like electricity, will be a pleasure to inflict on your gorgeous body, but I promise I wield more than you could ever handle, boy.”
He snorted, the scent of burning cedar flooding my nose.
My cock pulsed inside my leathers, releasing an unnatural and unusual flood of pre-cum. Goddamn, this man worked me up inside like no one had before.
“I can’t be broken,” he claimed, his chin lifting, exposing even more of his neck.
I withheld my own snort at his gesture of submission and hissed as another burst of pre-cum slid down my thigh. “I use the stoplight system for checking in, but red won’t cut it tonight. I won’t give you what you need without a safeword, Dolyn.” It pained me—literally—to state the truth, but I was a respected Dom and I would have an answer, or he could walk out the door unfulfilled.
The muscle in Dolyn’s strong jawline ticked again. “My safeword is beta, Sir.”
Interesting choice. Fitting, as the puzzle pieces of him moved around in my mind.
My instincts demanded I order him to his knees. My fingertips tingled to grasp hold of his hair and shove his face into my groin and command him to use his tongue to clean up the mess he’d caused inside my leathers. But, without the right to touch him, I had to ignore the hungry inferno he kindled inside me.
“You requested a caning.” I double-checked, my focus back on the task at hand.
“Yes, Sir.”
“And do you have a preferred position?”
“Over a bench, wrists and ankles shackled.” He didn’t hesitate to speak.
A shot of adrenaline rushed through me at the exact position I’d always craved to see Ashley displayed in.
I strode toward the bench where she had yet to kneel for me, the fantasy of her pale, off-limits skin intensifying the ache in my groin. I’d never lost myself in a scene and orgasmed unintentionally, but if anyone could take me to that point, it would be her.
I could now add this conundrum of a man to that small list.
But he alone deserved my attention tonight regardless of how the thoughts of the two of them wove together in my mind.
“Come,” I commanded quietly, curious to watch how he responded.
Dolyn hurried to do as told, further revealing his true nature.
Satisfaction welled up inside my chest, and I swallowed what would have been a purr of delight had I allowed the noise to pass my lips.
With fluid grace, he lowered himself to rest against the angled bench, hands grasping the holds, knees spread but not quite far enough to expose the dark recess between his muscular ass cheeks.
My cock throbbed at imagining what his pucker might look and feel like stretched around my girth.
I practiced deep breathing for a full thirty seconds to settle my mind back on the task at hand. “Dolyn.”
He turned toward me, attempting to keep his face a blank slate, but I’d been dominating willing participants for almost a decade. Rarely could a person hide their vulnerabilities or internal struggles from me.
A weight lay on Dolyn’s mind or heart. Something seemed not exactly off, which would require that I end our scene before it began, but…unsettled? Or perhaps my attraction clouded my usual discernment. A yellow moment for sure, and I needed further assurance he knew what exactly it was he’d requested from me this evening.
“You’re sure you want the cane?”
“I need the pain, Sir,” he insisted, his tone rough.
I nodded, still not completely convinced we ought to continue, but I couldn’t smother the lust heating my blood to inflict on his body what he’d asked for. “Tell me your safeword, Dolyn.”
“Beta.” He bit the word out, fire once more flashing in his eyes, assuring me of his hatred for the meaning behind it.
More pieces of his puzzle shifted around inside my brain as I studied his face. The twitch of the muscle in his jaw. The flare of desire in his swollen pupils. The slow bob of his Adam’s apple as he turned his gaze to the floor, brow furrowing deeply.
Dolyn craved more than the torment of his skin and muscle, and he despised that part of himself.
For whatever reason, this man had called my club. Fate had placed him in front of me, and I would do everything within my power to set this man free. He’d captured my fascination and woke up an obsessive side I’d only experienced once before with Ashley.
My balls tightened at the mental reminder of her, and I clenched my teeth while taking care to buckle Dolyn’s wrists tight without touching his skin. I longed to lean in and brush against his hip or shoulder, a mere whisper of contact, to experience that physical link for the first time.
The same damned desire I felt for Ashley but couldn’t enjoy.
Would I pant for breath?
Leak enough pre-cum it would slip all the way down inside my leathers to my boots?
Grow feverish, a sudden flush of warmth spreading out from my aching groin?
Focus.
I knelt to buckle around Dolyn’s ankles, and once finished, I glanced over to find his body rigid, knuckles white from clutching the holds.
That red flag sense rose again, but I looked at it from a different angle while pushing up to my feet.
A war raged inside Dolyn, one I recognized. I’d dealt with the same since Caroline had left me for a man who had no interest in exploring my kinks, which she considered disgusting.
The absolute need to be in this place clashed with both my and Dolyn’s desire to escape what haunted us. Whether from shame or dislike of the lifestyle we both couldn’t help but want, these yearnings stemmed from who we were in the deepest parts of ourselves.
While I didn’t know how to bring peace to either of our minds, I could offer some respite from the noise in our heads we hadn’t yet conquered.
I chose a synthetic cane since it packed more of a punch than wooden. High-strength, the stiffer rod would take us where we needed to go. A gentle Dom would aim to lay strokes out neat and parallel, but I was in the mood for a messy, angry caning, and Dolyn expected pain.
I would deliver—gladly, but still carefully land the lashes intentional and precise at first. And I would warm him up slowly to see how much he could actually take.
I hoped he could handle everything I had in me, because he’d woken a beastly aspect to my sadist side I’d never experienced before.
“Are you ready, Dolyn?” I asked quietly, my body vibrating, needing to let loose.
“Yes, Sir.”
Go easy, I reminded myself while pulling my arm back and setting my sights on the thickest part of those round globes I wanted to bury my face between.
The first crack of my cane against his flesh made both of us flinch, but we remained silent.
“Color?” I asked, shifting my feet slightly while eyeing where I would land the next stripe given the go-ahead.
“Green, Sir.”
Grinning, I hit his ass twice in a row, one lash right beneath the other, earning delicious grunts from the pain I’d gifted him. “Color?”
“Green,” he stated through gritted teeth. “Now quit asking, stop holding back, and give me what I want, Sir.”
The petulant brat didn’t know who he messed with. I let a chuckle loose along with a fourth swing across his upper thighs.
“Fuck,” he muttered beneath his breath, his head finally tipping forward to hang.
Two more gorgeous red lines decorated his golden skin before sweat beaded his shoulders.
“Please,” he whispered, and I knew without question he asked for more strength behind my hits rather than mercy.
Dolyn was a perfect fit for my sadistic side.
Time to give this boy what he begged for.
Dolyn
My backside stung with a luscious burn, but I wanted to snort at the man’s insistence he ought to be called my master.
Crack!
Another hit landed on my lower thighs, and I groaned, the power of his swings weakening my human form and loosening my tensed muscles.
While sceneing with Elijah, I’d never had issues keeping my beast’s voice and natural inclinations to submit shackled up tight. I had always been in charge of our responses so I could control the outcome, something Father had taught me to do.
But this dominant called to my dragon, and the beast prowled beneath my skin with ravenous hunger, desperate to consume my human half. He fought for freedom the second my Sir for the evening had stepped into the private room one of his employees had shown me to.
Please.
An echo rather than a shriek broke through the muzzle, and I clenched my eyes shut, my mouth repeating the word aloud.
I didn’t beg.
Ever.
But the deep impact, the thumps that reached beneath the surface of my skin were more intense than anything I had experienced beneath Elijah’s hand.
Vanni DiLoreto, self-proclaimed Master and owner of this club, gave me exactly what I craved.
Hyperaware of his movements, I sensed and tracked his arm drawing back.
Crack!
“Fuck,” I groaned, shuddering as my cock bucked, hitting my belly. A lone droplet of pre-cum dripped to the floor.
Beta.
I clenched my jaw to keep the beast’s whispered word off my lips. The pain, while exquisite, hadn’t yet reached the pinnacle I’d sought this Dom out for, the consuming, mind-numbing agony that would shut down my senses. But I couldn’t allow myself to go that far, which I feared would release the beast inside me.
My inner dragon continued to yank against his restraints, his pleadings for dominance over my human side whispering through my brain, but I wouldn’t give over completely.
Couldn’t.
Elijah might have stupidly shared a conscience with his beast and made decisions as one, but I chose to remain in charge so I could influence all outcomes, exactly as Father had taught me.
