Tales from The Lion's Den Pt. 01

A sting in the tail.

The Lion's Den is a travelling circus, a carnivale with a very adult playlist on an endless tour of a world reeling from a disastrous war that has thrown civilisation back to a new dark age. The Den is currently camped near Austin in what used to be Texas, USA. And Zara, the owner and absolute dictator of the Den, has asked for help from the New Texas Star Rangers to find an enemy spy. Rangers Sweetwater, Dare and Marie are undercover in disguise as one of the acts to check things out while their partner, Quin, keeps a low profile in the shadows as back up.

Rating

Stories from the Lion's den - a sting in the tail.

'I think I like my hair dark...' Sweetwater swept a hand through her long, shiny black Cleo wig, checking herself out in the mirror by the light of what seemed like hundreds of lamps, the black leather straps and over the knee boots of her dom costume stark against her pale skin. She preened and twisted to admire her rear view, slim arms and tight ass cheeks bare and swaying in time to the music coming faintly through the thin walls, drum rhythms pounding. A high cut leather bodysuit framed her curves and made her legs look a mile long in knee high heeled boots, her thighs pale, slim, toned and smooth between the blacks. 'Wow...' She turned to look at Dare.

Her beautiful partner was lying on his stomach, chin resting on linked hands on an old hospital bed surrounded by lamps while Zara's resident tattoo artist, a huge, dreadlocked, fully inked blond Viking named Bjorn worked on his toned back, ass and legs with indigo inks, henna and assorted dyes.

Dare looked up at her and grinned, bluer than blue eyes glinting, 'Wow doesn't cover it, Sweet, you look like a walking wet dream.' He shrugged, 'but at least you'll have something like clothes on, all I'm gonna have is paint...'

Bjorn chuckled, a surprising light sound for such a big man and he flicked the ass cheek closest to him with them and middle finger, the fleshy mound rippling. 'Keep still you, you'll spoil my vork'

Dare laughed but kept the rest of him still as ordered. 'Wouldn't want to do that. You're a true artist, Bjorn.'

'You better believe it.' The massive and hugely muscled man leaned back on his stool and examined what he'd done already, nodding at the delicately swirling black lines, tribal patterns and beautifully detailed drawings on shoulders, arms, thighs and back. The ass cheeks were left bare but outlined in black swirls, the pale, curved flesh inviting, begging to be stroked and petted. Bjorn nodded again, nearly satisfied, 'Yes, is good... you have good body, and you have many interesting scars.' The big man leaned forward and gently traced a seared line of scar tissue that snaked up over Dare's left shoulder. It had become an arrow under his hands, the head and long, curving shaft delicately ornate in black and purple ink. 'But I wish very much to be doing properly,' he glanced longingly at the tattoo gun in the corner of the room then with disdain at the brush in his hand, 'not pretend like this' he sighed. 'This will wear off in few weeks only, such a fucking waste.'

'Not a waste.' Sweetwater came up next to the bed, her leather covered crotch inches away from Dare's face, her eyes wandering over him, their deep purple blue hot, avid over his long, hard muscled, decorated body, lingering on the bulging curves of muscle over bone, the sweeping planes of shoulder blade and rib and the delicious concave line of waist to buttock, lingering on the little dimples at the base of his spine. Her tongue flickered out over her lips, her fingers skating ever so lightly and carefully over the gorgeous patterns on his skin, almost, almost touching. 'They're beautiful.'

Bjorn smiled at her, pleased. 'Good you like, is good'

Dare squirmed a little, telling his cock to subside, goose bumps following her fingers and all the fine hairs on his back standing to attention. What with the endless soft brush strokes on his skin and Sweetwater looking like that and standing so fucking close he could smell her, he was having a whole lot of trouble concentrating. He cleared his throat, 'Sweet, please? Trying to keep still here.'

Sweetwater smirked, bending over to press a soft kiss on the unpainted skin of his ass, the smooth, pale flesh warm, yielding and springy against her lips, she tasted him with her tongue.

He drew in a sharp, hard breath, his whole body rigid. 'Not helping...'

Bjorn chuckled again, busy mixing a colour in a little pot, 'I have feeling you two will be great success in Den'

'There'll be three of us actually' a low, female voice came from behind the curtained doorway.

Sweetwater stood back up, turning to the door, a wide smile on her lips. 'Hey Marie, come on in.'

There was a shuffle outside as Marie tried to find the edge of the curtain.

Dare still felt a little weird with Marie being part of their charade but he and Sweet were way too well known as a couple in Austin to do this on their own, even in disguise. Having Marie along for the ride would throw off suspicions. And, he trusted her way more than any stranger. Trusted her with his girl's safety. Not to mention the fact that she was very good at spotting trouble, and they had Quin as backup.

He still owed her some serious payback too, so maybe giving her a chance at him with a whip or paddle or whatever wasn't such a bad thing - he could take it, had taken much worse after all.

As for Sweetwater, he'd seen the wicked gleam in her eyes when they were planning all of this, setting the guidelines around what they were going to do. She was totally looking forward to it, which made him all kinds of fucking horny.

And Quin? He'd had just sat back in his chair with his whisky, laughing at the thought of Dare being tied up and at the mercy of two women.

The heavy curtain swept back and Sweetwater stared at her friend and colleague, mouth dropping open.

Marie was wearing a black leather outfit exactly like Sweet's but in place of the black wig, hers was a shining platinum that shimmered against her dark skin and made her look exotic and impossibly beautiful, her slanted dark eyes deep and mysterious over amazing cheekbones. She was smiling, her full lips a lush scarlet...

'Shit... I mean wow,' Sweetwater swallowed, 'has Quin seen you yet?'

Marie nodded, her lips full, still kiss swollen, her dark eyes a little hazy. 'Oh yeah.' She tipped her head back to the caravan she and her partner had been allocated for the duration, 'he's back in the van having a lie down.' She nodded at Bjorn, lips curving, 'hi there...'

He nodded back, eyes bright with appreciation, 'Hello, you like tattoo? I make you a good one for free.'

She chuckled, amused, 'thanks, I'll think about it,' She looked down at Dare, an eyebrow lifting and a little smile playing around her lips as her eyes swept him up and down. 'Well, don't you look pretty' Then her eyes found the scars on his back and widened a little in shock, a frown creasing the skin between her brows, the smile fading. She hadn't seen them before. They striped his back and shoulders like lightning strikes in shining, awful streaks and the inked designs around them somehow both disguised and accentuated the marks. She shuddered at the thought of the pain that would have gone with them.

But then they all had scars.

Dare gave her a tiny, careful shrug because Bjorn had started painting again, this time working on the sensitive flesh between the lower curve of his ass cheeks and the tops of his thighs and he was taking long slow breaths trying to keep still and from accidentally blowing his load. It was a kind of slow, sensual torture, 'all part of the job.' His voice was a little hoarse, strained.

Bjorn glanced up along the muscled body, noting the trembling tension, the rigid control, a knowing look in his eyes and his grin got wider, lips red and teeth big and white between the golden hairs of his tache and the plaited, beaded beard, tied back to keep it out of the way, 'Good thing front side already done, yes?'

Dare groaned out a rueful chuckle.

Bjorn laughed and got back to work, his hands deft, sure.

Marie watched, her full lips twitching, 'I suppose,' then she turned back to the door, reached down and pulled a wooden box in through the curtain, opening it with a flourish, 'Look, Zara gave us these and I was wondering which ones we should use in the act.'

Sweetwater's mouth dropped open again, 'Oh...' her belly and nipples tingling, her pussy soaking wet inside the tight leather and her clit lighting up like a torch at the thought of what they were going to be doing, in front of other people. She took a deep breath, reining it in. She really needed to think of the job. It was just that it was all new, exciting, and Dare didn't seem to mind at all, in fact she was pretty sure he was getting a major buzz out of it. She hadn't quite understood what they were getting into though, not really, not until now, and totally hadn't thought it would turn her on like this. She felt reckless, decadent.

Marie grinned and held up a heavy, black object with lots of soft leather straps at one end. 'Here we have a flogger,' she peered into the box, 'and lots of different paddles.' She put the flogger on the ground and pulled out several different sized and shaped wooden, leather, rubber and what looked like wicker paddles, 'There are whips too,' She met Charlie's eyes, 'but I think we might leave them out, yeah?'

Sweetwater nodded, 'yeah' then turned to Dare, not really surprised to see relief in his eyes, and gratitude.

He cleared his throat. 'Seeing that I'm going to be the one on the receiving end, maybe I should be the one doing the choosing?'

Bjorn chuckled, working on a finely muscled calf now.

The others looked up at him. Sweetwater had found a kind of small cage in the box and was turning it around in her hands, trying to work out what it did.

Dare shook his head, 'don't even think about that one, Sweet.'

She put it back, shrugging. She'd make him tell her what it was for, and what the other things were for too, later. 'So what do you want us to use then?'

Bjorn looked up, 'flogger would look real good in show, and good warm up for soft skin.' He pointed a large finger at the box, his brush in the other hand. 'Wooden paddles not good for beginner though, too hard, thud not sting' he shrugged, 'leather much better for novice, sting good, makes good sound - good for audience too.' He grinned at the three pairs of eyes looking at him with stunned fascination and the grin widened to a smug smile. 'Been here a long time, learned heaps.'

Dare nodded, amused, 'Ok, flogger and leather paddles it is then people, alright?'

Bjorn sat back, put his brushes away, and wiped his hands on a clean towel. 'Is all good, all finished,' He looked at each of them, his eyes bright and happy, 'first show tonight, yes?'

Sweetwater nodded, 'yeah,' She blew a breath out through pursed lips, wow, shit...

The curtain over the door lifted again and a young man burst in, thin and intense in a threadbare uniform, his dark hair tousled like he'd been running. 'Hey, I'm looking for Quin? The General just sent a message, he wants to see him.' His voice tailed off as he looked round the room, his eyes settling on Dare, a delighted smile curving his lips. 'You have got to be fucking kidding me.'

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