Nevertheless, he crossed the floor to her, came close enough that he could have reached out, drawn her to him . . .

Setting the knife aside, she threaded the whip through her fingers, reminding him of their first night. I have some skill in using a whip as well, bushman. Using his closeness against him, she looped it once around his head, letting it settle around his throat.

Watching him all the while, she slowly drew in the slack with both hands until it cinched against his windpipe, until his breath registered the restriction and his heart rate began to speed up.

“Are you prepared to accept pain from me?” Her voice was a murmur, but his gaze was on the quickened pulse in her own throat.

Somewhere in the haze of oxygen deprivation, he wondered if it was excitement.

“I can handle anything you’ve got, love.”

Alistair’s lips curved. Nina’s doe brown eyes got wider. Lyssa and Thomas remained expressionless, though Dev could imagine Thomas inwardly rolling his eyes and thinking he was a complete fool. He didn’t disagree.

“New servants are such a delight,” Alistair observed, and asked for more wine to be brought in.

“Go stand over there,” Danny ordered, yanking none-too-gently to bring the whip slithering off him and back to the floor.

The chains had been unraveled, and four manacles hung from the iron wheel. With the spokes, the manacles could be hooked at a narrow or wide span. Two longer manacles went all the way to the floor, their chains swaying slightly in the sea breeze that was filtering through the screens, for Alistair had ordered the windows opened.

He made his feet move. When he got there and turned, she was standing in the same place. “Raise your arms over your head.” When he complied, Thomas moved from behind Lyssa and came to him. The monk’s gaze met his briefly before he reached up, guided Dev’s hands into the manacles and locked them into place. There was a switch panel in this corner, and when Thomas flipped one, a mechanical whir ensued. The chain retreated, drawing up the slack, so that Dev felt his heels leave the floor. Quelling the sudden clutch of panic, he watched Thomas then kneel to clamp a soldered pair of cuffs around his ankles. He also wrapped a strap around his thighs, cinching in tight so his legs were held together, ankles to crotch, making his testicles a swollen nest for his rising cock. Since Thomas appeared to be doing this without any verbal instruction, he determined the “guest of honor” was providing the guidance. When he looked toward Lyssa, she was appreciating the stretch and strain of his body.

Danny had moved closer, was examining his bonds. She tilted her head toward Thomas. “That’s good. Take him up.” Before he could get his mind wrapped around that, Thomas had flipped two more switches, made several adjustments, and Dev’s feet left the floor altogether, which put his weight against the wrist manacles. Thomas had adjusted the chains at opposing points on the diameter of the wheel, balancing it so his arms were stretched out, almost four feet between them. God, this hurt the shoulders.

He suspected the vampire queen had done some time with the Spanish Inquisitors.

Then Danny moved in, close enough to touch, only he couldn’t touch her. Instead, she ran her palm up his chest, over the raven mark, then back down, slow. He noticed then she’d set aside the whip and held the knife, the blade catching the candlelight. While Alistair had electricity, like most vampires he seemed to prefer candlelight, which made Dev wonder if their eyes preferred darkness entirely. Which also explained why there’d been no torchlight around the covered tent where they’d played chess.

“I’d be worried about a servant who used knives like that.” Alistair chuckled. “He might cut off something you could use later.”

“He’s very careful about his knives. Takes good care of them. The way he takes good care of me.” Dev turned his attention to her still face at those words. He wished so damned much she would talk to him.

What would you have me say, bushman?

He closed his eyes. Anything, my lady.

She caressed his chest again, only this time she did it with the tip of the sharpened blade, drawing it down his sternum. When he opened his eyes, she still hadn’t taken her eyes off his face. But she drew the knife down, down, sliding left to follow the pectoral to the nipple, bore down as she cut him there. His breath clogged in his throat as she bent and teased the nub with her tongue, taking the blood away.

“He didn’t even flinch,” Lyssa murmured. “Are you warning him, Danny?”

“No. No warnings.”

“He is fearless,” Alistair said.

No matter what I do, do not go to that still place in your head. I forbid it. Stay with me.

You only have to ask, my lady. He couldn’t seem to summon her familiar name right now, though he knew that might have helped keep some sense of an equal connection between them, even if it was only an illusion. The title seemed more intuitive, more from his gut, despite a confusing swirl of emotions.

Her blue eyes were very close when the blade sliced across the other nipple. He shuddered at it, but again, didn’t flinch. Wherever she went with that knife, he was ready for it. He just wasn’t sure he could withstand the emotions, the power of them growing stronger with every pain, with the contrasting gentle touch of her hands. He wanted to disobey, needed to go to that still place before they all spilled out and he couldn’t control them.

“More . . .” he muttered. Please, God, let her hurt me more, give me the pain, because I can’t handle the rest.

You don’t need to control or handle anything, Dev. Don’t you yet understand that I can handle your rage? Don’t shut down. Let yourself understand why you’re doing exactly what I want you to do, even as you’re daring me to make it hurt more than your flesh can bear. Is it your soul that needs scourging? Do I need to cut or lash you that deeply?

He yanked against the chains, forcing his body against her, which, as he twisted, made the knife arc over his abdomen, slicing through his epidermis. Damn it, use the thing instead of talking me to death.

He never saw her move back, but now she was truly out of reach, though her eyes were on the wound he’d made her inflict on him.

The blood streamed down his stomach, fast enough he felt it tease his cock, run down the base to his testicles. Thinking of dinner, love? Here it is. You just have to get on your knees for it.

Her gaze flicked up to him, her mouth tightening. She brought the knife up quite deliberately, ran her delicate tongue along the edge of the blade. I don’t need a servant whose only reason for serving me is to exercise some twisted punishment upon himself.

“Blindfold him,” she said, before he could think of a response, though he felt the rage of it sing through his muscles, his clenched jaw, even the hardened state of his cock. “And bring me a gag.”

Apparently, while most people had extra cloth napkins and spare silverware sets handy to the solarium, Alistair kept other things.

Thomas removed a cut blindfold from the drawer of an antique wooden cabinet and came to Dev.

“Do not put that fucking thing on my face,” he warned.

“Step back, Thomas.” Danny took it from the monk’s hand and came right to Dev. When he tried to avoid her, he found Alistair behind him, the vampire seizing his hair in hard hands, holding him still as she fitted the blindfold and then thrust something like a rubber ball past his teeth, using straps to hold it in place that Alistair buckled in back.

He struggled, snarled, made the wheel turn and his shoulder joints scream. As darkness descended, he was even more aware of their attention on him, the heat of the candlelight warming his skin.

“He’s bloody marvelous, Lady D,” Alistair said. “Holy God, that cock alone is worth salivating over.” Tell that son of a bitch to stay away from me.

The lash came down hard on his flank, telling him that Alistair had moved back, but only to give Danny room with the whip. It cut deep, arching him forward with an exhalation. You do not command me, Dev. Not ever.

Another strike, this one high on his shoulder, and Jesus, but she didn’t believe in preliminaries. She was going for blood. Another, across the center, and he could imagine the artistically placed three stripes as her body brushed against his. Her mouth touched his skin, feeding on the blood coming from those welts. Is this what you craved, Dev? I can make it hurt so badly you will beg me to stop.

God help him, but his cock responded again, leaping at her as her hand caressed him, clasped the base and tugged.

All mine. My possession, my slave. My servant . . .

Had she intended he hear those fervent words, the desire behind them? He didn’t belong to anyone. He didn’t.

Unless he chose to.

Holy . . . Apparently she’d pulled something else from those drawers, for he felt her hand, now slick with some type of oil, teasing the crease of his buttocks. Danny, no . . . Women don’t do this . . . And yet, even as he tried with futile effort to tense against her, her much stronger fingers simply found him, eased into that tight, uninitiated opening.

“So you’ve never had anyone there . . . Interesting, considering how much you like to take women there.”

“Really? Nina loves it.” From Alistair’s voice, it sounded like he was back on his couch, which Dev knew could be false reassurance, but he’d take anything he could get right now.

“That’s a fortunate thing, considering your usual preferences,” Lyssa noted dryly.

Dev tried to draw a steadying breath during the banter, but Danny didn’t give him the opportunity. She’d withdrawn, moved back again, and the whip popped across his shoulders. She went for the sting this time, not the cut, and she worked it with a will, proving she was as capable as any cattle drover he’d ever met. His body jumped and flinched so that she had him dancing in the chains, twisting, making them clank in a primal rhythm. Because of his suspended state, he had no anchor, no ground to hold on to. While his shoulder joints were screaming, apparently he was putting on quite an erotic display, if the appreciative comments from the other two vampires were any indication.