Tess kissed me, tasting of salt from her tears. “Do you understand? Your life isn’t yours to gamble anymore, Q. It’s mine. I don’t care about your honour—if you’re in a life and death situation you do whatever you can to stay alive. I order you to do whatever’s necessary. Because your soul is mine and I refuse to let you go.”

I couldn’t speak. My heart galloped at the simplicity of the f**ked-up situation. “If you own my life, who owns yours?”

Tess smiled. “You, of course. No matter what happens, it’s always yours. I will never stop loving you, Q. It scares me how much I need you. But from now on, your honour comes second best to me—do you hear?”

I desperately wanted to kiss her and stop this spilling of fragile truths, but the confessions lightened my heart. “So you…forgive me?”

Tess nodded. “I forgive you.”

I slouched, crushed by pain, weak with relief. Running my fingers up her stockings, I voiced one more truth. “I want to be normal. I want to love you without needing to hurt you. I’m sorry for what I am.”

Tess grabbed my face, her fingernails digging into my cheeks. Her eyes glowed with anger. “Don’t. I don’t want you ever to say that again. You are normal. My normal. We’re each other’s normal. And there is no right or wrong. It’s time we accepted it. I love you. So much. Take me, Q. No more talking. Make me your wife completely.”

She lay back, looking down her body at me kneeling at the foot of the bed. Her swollen lips made me hard, her tear-stained cheeks made me grateful. The knowledge she’d forgiven me shed the guilt I’d carried, removing a layer of pain at the thought of losing her.

My lips twisted into a smile. “You’re my wife already, but I have no issues pounding the message home.”

She laughed, shattering the angst, replacing it with desire. Everything we’d discussed disappeared, leaving us empty and healing and ready to move forward. Who knew airing dirty laundry was a good idea? But it was. I’d never felt lighter—minus my beaten and bruised body.

I ran my hands up her inner thigh; Tess shivered. “I’m going to undress you till you’re only wearing that incredible collar.”

“Um, I can help you if you like…” Her arm flew upward, hitting something hard. She twisted, looking above her. “Oh—”

Above her head rested a basket overflowing with purple crepe paper. Pressed into the wrapping were gifts. Tess pulled it toward her, her eyes widening. “She really does think of everything.”

I stole the basket from her, raiding the small container. Inside rested a blindfold, cheap handcuffs, small flogger, chocolate body paint, glittery purple vibrator, and lube.

Body paint? Yuck. Blindfold? Don’t need. Handcuffs? They’d last all of two seconds. I tested the sting of the fake flogger. It lacked a perfect snap, but could work.

My eyes landed on the vibrator. And I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Tess plucked the note from the side. “Enjoy, newlyweds. We look forward to seeing you at breakfast tomorrow. Love, Frederick, Angelique, Franco, and Suzette. She looked at the toys, her eyebrow raising. “That’s a lot of people to chip in for some vanilla playthings.”

“They have no imagination. The best things to use are the most mundane.” I dragged a fingernail up her thigh, loving her shiver.

She breathed shallow, hypnotising me. Her br**sts were soft globes with tiny erect ni**les, her skin slightly indented from the boning of the corset.

She lay back slowly, never looking away.

My c**k swelled. I thought for a second of using the blindfold, flogger, and cuffs, but the need for gentleness hadn’t left. It cushioned my thoughts, keeping my beast distracted—tamed.

The toys didn’t excite me. I didn’t want to tie Tess up—I wanted to feel her fingers in my hair. I didn’t want to hurt her—I wanted her moans of ecstasy.

Connection. Sex. No pain.

Just her. And me.

On me, over me, on my tongue, on my cock. I wanted to f**king worship her with every inch.

Never breaking eye contact, I pulled the vibrator and lube free, before tossing the basket over my shoulder. It landed loudly, scattering items beneath the dressing table.

Tess’s mouth parted. “You don’t want—”

I grabbed my cock, stroking once, twice. Loving the anticipation…desperate to tease. “Not today, esclave. Today I’m taking your moans as payment rather than your tears.”

Her face scrunched, battling a wash of love. “How do you read me so well? How did you know I needed just one time where it was gentle?”

I rose upright on my knees, crooking a finger for her to come closer. Her toned stomach flexed, arching, closing the distance so her lips were millimetres away. Gazing into her eyes, I murmured, “I know because what you feel, I feel.” Resting my hand over her heart, I whispered, “I need you like we haven’t shared before. I need to take you this way. I can’t explain it.”

She sighed. “I can—it’s because we’re in tune. We shared parts of ourselves we thought the other would never accept. The knowledge that this is truly forever…it’s given us freedom to be soft.” Her lips captured mine, pulling me deeper into her drug, cancelling out my aches, flaring liquid heat in my veins. “I’m the luckiest woman in the world.”

Returning to my position between her legs, I placed the vibrator and lube on the floor. Pushing her downward, I smiled. “You have that wrong. I’m the luckiest master in the world.” With the pads of my fingers, I caught the top of her stockings. She bit her lip as I rolled them down her silky skin. I removed her shoe, tugging the sheer material clear.

My c**k throbbed to be inside her, loving the tension, the quivering delight in the knowledge we weren’t going to fight—not today. Today we would share something entirely different.

Repeating the process, I removed her other stocking, placing them with her shoes on the floor. The only things remaining were her knickers and collar.

A small slice of who I truly was rose. I bent over her hips, biting through the lace with one sharp cut. The material broke, falling away easily when I tugged the ruined lingerie down her legs.

The moment I glimpsed what I’d wanted since Suzette tore off her dress, my mouth went dry. “Mon Dieu, Tess, tu es si belle putain.”Goddammit, Tess, you’re so f**king beautiful.

I stared between her parted legs. Her golden hair was maintained and soft, her folds glistening with desire.

“Q—please…” she moaned. The leash from the collar fell between her br**sts, a splash of blackness on her perfection. I looked for the permanent scar branding her neck forever. The beast inside purred, knowing it was undeniable now—this woman was mine. I no longer needed to carve my autograph into her every night, making sure my imprint lived in her skin—it was done. Officially. Unofficially. In every way humanly possible.

My symbol of commitment existed on every facet of her.

I pressed the wedding band around my finger with my thumb. I was hers, and I couldn’t be f**king happier.

Licking my lips, I pressed a gentle kiss right over her clit.

Her reaction was explosive, bowing upward, her fingers clutched the bed. Her sensitivity was insane compared to the control she maintained when I hurt her.

She’d truly let go. Not caring about anything but my hot breath on her core and the deliciousness of what was to come.

I kissed her again, licking once with a pointed tongue. She moaned—loudly.

Her pleasure sent a ripple of pr**cum spurting from my cock. My quads clenched as the sublime reaction made me crave more. More.

I pounced on her, covering her pu**y with my mouth, sucking in her delectable taste, willingly turning my world topsey turvey with how drugged and intoxicated I was.

Her body rippled every time I licked her. Her mouth fell wide as I pushed my tongue deep, deep inside. Her muscles contracted, dragging my tongue even further. The first ripple of an orgasm warned me to pull back. I didn’t want her coming—not yet.

There was something else I wanted. Something I would take. But first…

Groping for the vibrator, I silently positioned the glittery phallus at her entrance. I nibbled her clit, distracting her with my tongue.

Her fingers groped the bed as I sucked harder, flicking her folds faster, driving her higher.

The gentleness and sweetness inside felt so different to a lifetime of needing pain. I got off on her mewls of pleasure just as much as her moans of agony. Born of a sadistic monster, I couldn’t fight what he’d poured into my blood. But tonight, all I needed was Tess.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

With another lave of my tongue, Tess left sanity, becoming a ball of lust. I loved that I’d driven her to the place where nothing else registers but sex. I needed her there—to enjoy what was to come.

Still sucking on her clit, I pressed the power button. The vibrator came to life, humming, sending shockwaves through her folds, echoing on my tongue.

She screamed. “God—Q. More. It feels—fuck, it feels—”

I didn’t let her finish.

Sliding the vibrator deep, I licked harder, overloading her system with pleasure.

Her h*ps rocked, forcing my mouth to crash against her pu**y. Her hands disappeared into my hair, shamelessly pulling me into her. My neck ached, my back bellowed, but I wouldn’t stop until she came.

“Q—yes…shit, yes.”

I chuckled at Tess’s language, gawking at her wriggling body above. Her br**sts jutted out, her ni**les hard as f**king rocks. God, she tasted divine. I wanted to eat her forever.

My tongue ached to give way to teeth—I wanted to bite her. Just one tiny nip. But I kept up the relentless pressure, driving the vibrator deeper inside.

Her pants and whimpers were f**king erotic, twisting my belly. My c**k throbbed with her every moan, demanding to replace the vibrator and come.

But as much as I wanted to come, I wanted to be somewhere else when I did. This was for her. Just for her.

My tongue picked up speed, urging her upward. Go on, esclave. Come. I want to hear you scream.

Pressing the power button, I cranked the speed. Her body jerked; her fingers yanking the sheets beneath her in a savage pull. “Oh, God!”

I smiled, flicking my tongue, ignoring the sweat running down my temples. My wrist hurt from thrusting the vibrator. I was insanely jealous of the innate object penetrating my woman. I could orgasm just by Tess coming apart.

“I’m going to—Q—stop if you don’t want me to—” Her head arched, hair flying in every direction as her body bunched.

Humming against her clit, I murmured, “You have my permission. Come, esclave. Fucking come on my tongue.” I pressed the button one last time. The vibrator turned from teasing to torturous but Tess writhed in sensual surrender.

Her h*ps pulsed in time to the thrusts I delivered, my head bobbing with her, keeping my tongue busy on her core.

“Q—shit, I’m coming. Q!”

Her entire body convulsed, her fingers became fingernails, clutching my head, rocking her h*ps into my mouth. Her cries demanded, searched, seethed for something.

I know what she needs.

I loved that she was right. This was normal. For us. Pain was our happy place.

She wanted it.

So I gave it to her.

I bit her cl*t with a feral growl. My heart collided painfully with my ribs, but I didn’t care.

She came.

And came.

And came.

Her cries echoed around the room, turning her limbs from quivering with tension to melting with satisfaction into the bed.

I breathed hard, aching and stiff, but very f**king smug. She’d come and it was all because of me.

Her eyes opened, looking almost black from her release. “Q…” Her head lolled, fingers falling from my hair. Her voice was heavy, slurred, completely sated. “That felt incr—incredible.”

I loved her sleepiness. Her vulnerability. I adored what it meant for me. My reward.

Removing the vibrator, I kissed her pu**y. I grinned as her oversensitive cl*t shivered beneath my lips.

Turning off the toy, I left it on the floor. Tess kept her eyes closed, not moving from her open-legged position. I went to stand, but my body was mutinous, bellowing with pain. A simple movement of standing took five times as long as normal. I gritted my teeth, straightening out the kinks in my spine, gathering the lube, and climbing into the bed.

Every movement clashed like agonising cymbals. My body needed rest. I needed sleep, but I didn’t want to miss out on the best opportunity of my life.

I wouldn’t let any headaches, or battle wounds stop me from finishing what I’d started.

Tess was mine.

The second I lay down, Tess snuggled her back against my front, sighing deeply. I relaxed into the pillows, cupping her breast. The heaviness of her flesh activated every protective, possessive part inside. A guttural growl sounded in my throat. “You have the most incredible body. Made just for me. So accepting of anything I do.”

She snuggled closer, tugging a pillow to cradle her head.

I twisted her nipple, my mouth watering to give her tits the same attention as her pu**y. Tess didn’t move or make a sound.

I laughed gently. “Are you sleeping, mon coeur?” Nuzzling her neck, I breathed hard. Her soft form in my arms was too much. I couldn’t stop my h*ps rocking, pressing my c**k against her ass, seeking a release.

Tess moaned, wriggling closer. Her heartbeat fluttered under my touch. A minute ticked by while I held her. Slowly, energy entered her sex-sated limbs. She stroked my forearm wrapped around her. “I’m not sleeping, maître. I know what you want from me.”

My heart leapt. I clenched my jaw, forcing my h*ps to stop. “I won’t force you, Tess. If you’re still afraid…”