Wild Desire Ch. 03

"Did it occur to you that I may have had your best interests at heart when I told you to come back?" The lord said quietly. "Have I not showed you how I care for those who belong to me? Have Feldspar, Gneiss and Nephrite not told you of my character?"

Daniella didn't respond.

"Little one," he said, a bit more sternly. "You disobeyed a direct order from your lord. You put yourself and indeed the entire wood in peril with your foolishness."

Daniella stiffened at the sharp reprimand. She drew her arms across her chest, her lingering terror turning to cold rage.

"The wraiths would have had no power — no audacity — to touch you, had you not defied your lord." His voice was sharp and dangerous. It only made her more angry.

"You — are — not — my — lord." She spoke slowly, letting a half a heartbeat punctuate each word.

In a blink he was above her prone body. The lord pinned her wrists to her sides. He leaned down close, letting her see his face clearly in the starlit darkness.

"Indeed I am. You must understand one thing: I will not allow your defiance to upset the natural order of the wood. The wood bows to the Lord of the Wood. The Lord of the Wood cares for that which belongs to him. That is the balance. That is the agreement."

Daniella struggled against his grip. It was hopeless. She wasn't especially strong or big for a human. He was a faery lord. Still, she fought him.

"Little one, you must learn your place," he crooned, his voice filled with darkness and retribution. Daniella's eyes went wide. She pictured herself along in a dark cell deep beneath the roots of a tree. Or, perhaps his punishments fit the crime. She wondered how much it would hurt if he broke her ankle for running. Maybe he would take a finger or two for stealing, too. Darker thoughts flitted through her mind. Thoughts of brutish faeries holding her down and using her body, of being subjected to humiliations and cruelties by the pink-haired mistress from the night before.

"Please don't hurt me," she whispered.

"Oh, little one, punishment must be painful for it to be effective," he said softly. "Trust your lord. I will not go beyond what you can manage."

Daniella let out a silent sob of fear and nodded.

"Good girl," he said. Behind Daniella's head a tree abruptly sprouted from the forest floor, its branches twisting and bending unnaturally into the shape of a chair.

The lord released her wrists and settled himself in the chair. Daniella pushed herself up and rolled onto her knees. She looked up at him as she knelt in front of his improvised throne. He looked every bit as majestic on the sapling throne as he did on his dais in the Meeting Tree.

The silent command in his night-darkened face was unmistakeable. She walked to him. Up close she could see his eyes, hard and glinting. His mouth crooked up at the corner in a hungry smirk.

The lord offered her his hand in invitation. She placed her small hand in his hesitantly. He pulled her sharply forward. With his other hand he gestured to his lap.

Daniella tentatively made to sit on his lap.

"No, little one," he said huskily. He drew her closer and bent her over his lap.

Daniella's heart beat erratically as if it could escape from her chest. His body was hot against hers. He spread his legs, propping her upraised bottom over one and her face on the other. The position left her breasts conspicuously exposed to the night air through her barely there crop top.

He stroked a hand down her spine and she unconsciously grabbed at his pants. He tutted at her and captured her hands in his. He stretched them out in front of her, leaving her completely exposed. After a moment he smiled almost gently at her and folded them under her cheek, letting her keep her arms tucked around her shivering body.

The lord ran a hand down her body from head to rear. Daniella held herself taut, waiting for the blow to come. Instead he repeated the soothing motion. She let out a held breath and closed her eyes.

His hand stroking down her back was relaxing. She remembered how safe she had felt the night before as he had fed her and played with her hair. He had had the opportunity to take advantage of her, but he hadn't.

Daniella sighed and relaxed into his touch. He had told her to trust him and under his gentle touch she could see how trust might be possible. He wove a hand gently through her hair, delivering a delicious little scratch to her scalp.

The blow took her completely by surprise when it came. The hand on her head fisted a chunk of her head, holding her still. At the same moment, he delivered a deafening smack to her upraised bottom.

Daniella screamed in surprise and pain, writhing against him. Immediately his hand was back on her, soothing her stinging flesh and holding her in place. She whimpered, trying to hold in her pain.

"You may cry out, little one, but do not move," he said, his voice as dark as the night around them.

Daniella whimpered in response. The lord tightened his grip on her hair in warning.

"Okay," she whispered.

He delivered another blow to her other cheek. This time she was ready, but it still stung. He didn't give her time to brace herself, landing three more blows in quick succession.

Daniella cried out. He ran his hand down her back soothingly. The pain on her bottom was radiating outward in warm waves. His hand traveled over her sore flesh leaving gooseflesh in its wake.

He trailed his fingers down past the curve of her ass to brush feather-soft over her thighs. Daniella stifled a moan. The combination of teasing touch with the warmth from her abused flesh was overwhelming.

His hand disappeared from her legs and she braced herself again. The smack landed on her thighs this time. Daniella let out a squawk of surprise. The lord chuckled and rubbed the sensitive spot gently.

He ran his hand over her prone body, this time more exploratory. She trembled as he trailed a finger down her side, sending jolts of pleasure down to her core. His wicked finger reached under her and wandered over her stomach, and then came back up, grazing the side of her breast over her shirt.

He delivered another blow to her bottom, followed by another meandering exploration of her body. He trailed a hand down to her ass. It was warm and glowing now and every soft touch left a little trail of flame in its wake.

Daniella was panting. The things he was doing to her body had short-circuited her brain. Pleasure and pain were melting into each other. As he continued spanking her bottom and thighs she floated away into the intense sensations he was giving her.

As if from very far away she registered him speaking to her. He stilled his wandering hands and repeated himself.

"Who is your lord, little one?"

Daniella moaned in response.

He gave her a light smack on her lower back, shaking her from her stupor.

"Must I repeat myself?"

Daniella summoned the rage she had felt earlier, the indignation that this man felt he could punish her.

"I — don't have one," she managed to rasp out.

Her punishment came quickly. The lord yanked her flimsy pants down, exposing her to the frigid night air. He rained blows down in quick succession over her entire bottom and burning thighs.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to moan. She wanted to close her eyes and hide, so ashamed to be exposed so completely. Instead his hand gripped her hair so tightly it forced her to stay still, eyes open.

The blows continued without end. Daniella was crying out now, an unending moan that rose and fell with his blows. Tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't catch her breath between blows. She didn't think they would ever end.

Eventually he broke his rhythm, his hand hovering above her. This time he didn't soothe the ache.

"Who?" The one word held everything: a promise and a warning, a question and a request.

Daniella understood everything he was saying instinctively. The small, dark part of her that yearned to obey him clawed its way up through her body.

"You are," she whispered. "You are my lord."

"Good girl," he crooned. At once he loosened his tight grip on her hair and ran his other hand soothingly over her abused flesh. He granted her a few breaths to collect herself.

Daniella let out a shuddering sob. Her breathing was ragged. She couldn't bring all the pieces of herself back together again.

"Little one, are you well?"

She couldn't find words to convey how she felt. She was nothing but light and sensation. She shivered. The final reign of blows had bloomed into warmth. She was a single, taut nerve ending from head to toe. She moaned, and this time she didn't sound like she was in pain.

He chuckled. "Good, my little one. Good."

He smoothed her dress and released his grip on her hair. Gently he started to lift her up to standing.

Daniella whimpered in protest. His hands stilled, listening.

"Do you... want more, little one?"

Daniella wriggled her body against his. She couldn't raise a coherent thought to answer him. She just knew she didn't want to stand up. She didn't want his hands to disappear.

He waited, one hand resting on her head, the other holding her in place on his lap.

She whined again and writhed a bit more forcefully, begging him with her body to continue.

"You must tell me what you want, little one."

Daniella groped for words like a free diver searching for pearls on the murky ocean floor. Every moment he didn't touch her brought the unbearable sensation of holding her breath. She searched desperately for the words that would release her back up to the surface.

"I need — please — " she wiggled against him. He didn't move.

"Please touch me," she whispered. He still didn't move. She wiggled her bottom against his hand.

"And how do you address me?" he whispered, his voice full of promise. She shuddered and let out a frustrated sob.

"Please touch me, my lord."

Immediately his hand traveled over her glowing ass. His light touch shot crackling lightning to her pussy. She arched into his touch and sighed with pleasure, finally released from having to think enough to form language.

He stroked down the outside of her thigh, then traveled back up her inner thigh. He paused right at the apex, hovering. Daniella's body was taut with anticipation.

The lord stroked her hair soothingly with his other hand, keeping her waiting.

"Such a responsive girl," he whispered as he leaned down to her ear. Daniella shuddered at the intimate feel of his breath across her sensitive neck, and she melted with his praise.

He cupped her mound, feeling the heat there. Daniella focused on keeping still, afraid anything she might make him decide to keeping her waiting for longer.

He slid a finger over her entrance, feeling the wetness there. He hummed in appreciation. She was soaking.

He spread the wetness over her lips, drawing a deep moan out of her. The sensations he pulled from her with each leisurely pass were beyond anything she had ever felt before. Daniella arched back into his hand.

He responded by speeding his strokes ever so slightly. The waves of pleasure radiating through her grew exponentially. Daniella began babbling, unaware of what she was saying.

He kept a steady pace on her pussy. Occasionally he lengthened his stroke, grazing her clit or traveling back to tease her most secret place.

"Please, please" she chanted as her body writhed in response to his touch.

"What do you need, little one?" he asked.

She didn't have words. Every touch was electric. She moaned in frustration and begged indistinctly.

The lord slipped his hand from her hair down the front of her crop top. He grazed the side of her breast, raising goosebumps. He found her nipple and rolled it, drawing a cry from her.

Daniella's body was on fire. The lord pulled on her nipples in time with his strokes over her clit. Her attention seesawed between the pleasure being forced on her from either end, scattering her consciousness.

Just as she felt herself climbing toward climax he slowed his pace.

"More?" he purred. She whined in response.

He dipped a finger into her tight channel, twisting slowly in time with his ministrations to her breast. He fanned out his other fingers, grazing against her pussy and clit with tantalizing touches. Daniella pushed back against him, urging him on.

The lord pulled his finger out and replaced it a moment later with his thumb, flattening his hand firmly against her mound to stroke her clit.

Daniella panted with need. She wanted more; fingers weren't enough. She shifted her weight closer to his body and felt his hardness there. She moaned and undulated against him.

He huffed out a breath and twitched against her. The lord began thrusting his thumb into her at a punishing rhythm, rubbing all the sensitive spots at the entrance to her pussy deliciously. His fingers slid over her clit in time with each thrust, driving her higher and higher.

Daniella arched her back, her moans building on each other into a continuous prayer. She had become nothing more than a passenger riding an enormous wave. The wave built and built, propelled by his steady, strong strokes into her.

Daniella could see the shore rushing toward her. She was vaguely aware of the wave beginning to crest. The lord pulled her nipple one last time, drove his hand into her body, and played his fingers over her clit at lightning speed.

The wave crashed. Daniella became rushing water and sea form. She was saltwater spray tossed into an endless grey sky. She was a geyser shooting from a sea vent in the black ocean depths. She was endless and nothing, all at once.

She screamed with release, her body rigid in the lord's arms. He continued to stroke her gently through her orgasm. When her body had stopped spasming he gently fixed her top and pulled her pants up. He ran soothing hands over her, bringing her gently back to herself.

When she had steadied the lord drew her up into a seated position on his lap. He smoothed her hair and pressed her head to his chest. Daniella shivered, her body reeling. His body was solid and warm against hers.

She didn't know how long they sat that way. The night was pitch black and the forest was quiet. The heat he had kindled in her dissipated. She didn't want to leave her cocoon of golden, sleepy warmth in his arms, but she was getting cold enough that she couldn't keep ignoring it.

Daniella waded up toward conscious thought, taking stock of her body as she went. The pleasant tingles of her orgasm were barely buzzing now. Her ass had faded from delicious warmth into stinging discomfort. She shifted her weight forward a bit, trying to find a way to relieve the most sensitive welts.

"Holy shit," she managed. It wasn't eloquent, but it was the best she could do at the moment. The lord laughed quietly.

"Indeed, little one."

The lord produced a long sleeved jacket from somewhere and wrapped it securely around her shivering body. He leaned back in his living throne and cradled her to him. Daniella didn't know what to think, so she decided just to feel instead. She was warm and safe, her body sated in a way it had never been before.

Somewhere in the forest an owl hooted. The wind rushed through the aspens leaves. The night noises lulled Daniella toward sleep with their gentle song. With her head against his chest his breath and heartbeat formed a baseline to the music of the wood. In her half-asleep state she could almost hear how it all moved together in concert.

Something large splashed in the stream and Daniella was instantly awake. She sat up sharply and clutched at the lord's tunic, turning wide eyes toward the water. She strained to see in the pitch black, but there didn't seem to be anything there.

The lord stood fluidly, setting her on her feet slightly behind him.

"Think of home, little one," he commanded.

Daniella's frightened mind obeyed instantly. Images of her beloved apartment, her shared office on campus, her friends, her parents jumped through her mind in a muddled, nervous stream.

With one hand, the lord turned her away from the stream and pushed her gently. The entrance to the redwood grove was just a few steps in front of her. Remembering everything she had ever heard about predators, Daniella took in a deep breath mastered every instinct screaming at her to run. In three steady steps she was across the threshold of the redwoods.

Once she was under the shadow of the towering giants Daniella whipped around. The lord was still facing the stream, his body taut.

"Go back to your tree, little one," he called without looking at her. Daniella hesitated. It didn't feel right to leave him there. It didn't feel right to walk back alone, bereft of his warmth. At that moment it didn't matter that he was the Lord of the Wood. It felt wrong to leave him to face the those things alone.

"Little one," he said. This time his tone was laced with a warning command.

"Okay, lord," she said, her voice still unsteady. She forced herself to turn her back to him, ignoring the desperate feeling of wrongness as she made her way through the inky darkness.