Ann Mayburn - Sodom and the Phoenix

He smiled, and some of the warmth came back to his eyes. “Yes. She and her master have been together for ten years. I’m sure he’s used to her antics by now and will give her exactly what she needs, even if it’s not what she wants. Jasmine is what is known as a brat, a sub who will act up, push her master to see how much he’ll let her get away with before bringing her back in line.”

Tanwen rolled this information around in her mind as he fed her a spoonful of rich ice cream. Anyone who had ever been a parent was familiar with negative attention, but the BDSM world gave it a whole new twist.

Bryan rubbed her knuckles in a soothing gesture and continued, “I don’t think I have to worry about that with you. You don’t strike me as the class troublemaker.”

She shook her head and laughed. “No, I was always the teacher’s pet.”

His eyes gleamed, and his smile took on a predatory tone. “Really? Interesting.” He glanced at his watch again and helped her to her feet. On the stage, a woman in a daring red leather gown and amazing sparkling red boots began to greet the crowd. Bryan drew her flush against him and she felt the hard planes of his body. “Are you ready to play with me, little flame?”

She cast a worried look around the room, at how many people there were, then at the stage behind Bryan’s back. A tremble shook her, and Bryan held her closer, enveloping her in the scent of his cologne. She couldn’t back out now, not after she’d made him send the other subs away. She rested her forehead against his shoulder and whispered against his chest, “I don’t know. What will we be doing?”

“Honest answer. Let me help you with your fear of the unknown a bit. Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen. If it becomes too much, I will have no problem getting another sub to assist me. I will respect your hard limits from our time earlier together. At any point you can use your safe word and it will all stop. “ He traced his hand down her back, leaving behind a trail of tingles. “I will treat you with respect, like the lady you are. You will come away from this with a greater knowledge of your body and yourself.”

Since that was exactly what she came here for, she tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “I’ll give it my best.”

He brushed his lips over hers, a soft caress that filled her with longing for a deeper touch. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Tanwen braced herself as Bryan—that is, Master Bryan—was introduced to the crowd. Instead of putting a dog collar on her or pulling her up by her hair, he merely took her shoes off and led her up on the stage by her hand. Thank goodness he was holding on tight or she might have made a run for the exit. Bryan’s presentation—she still had no idea what they were going to be doing—followed a tutorial on rope bondage and the danger signs to look for when the ropes were on too tight or for too long.

She’d only been able to halfway pay attention to the intricate knots and bindings that secured a pair of young male and female submissives on the stage. All she could think about was how humiliated she would be to have her body displayed like that, and how much older she was than the perfect gold-painted submissives still standing and posing beneath the bright lights of the stage with their flowers.

Bryan must have noticed because he kept stroking along her arm with a light touch. She found herself concentrating more on the feeling of his fingertips sending sparks through her body than the woman now tied up and suspended like a piñata on the stage. That demonstration had ended with the sub having a screaming orgasm that shook the very frame of the stage as she thrashed and contorted in her rope harness. Bryan caressed his hand up and down, finding erogenous zones on her skin. It was as if her arm had grown extra nerve endings that led directly to her pussy.

As she followed him up the steps, her panic rose until she was scarcely aware of what she was doing. All she could focus on was how many people watched them, how immense the crowd suddenly seemed. She wasn’t a hard-bodied eighteen-year-old. The crowd must be disappointed at how ordinary she looked. Then again, the female sub who had been used for the rope exhibition hadn’t been much younger than Tanwen, and she bore the telltale stretch marks on her stomach and breasts of having given birth.

She was glad Bryan had made her take her shoes off, because as much as she was shaking, she would have stumbled and fallen on her butt.

A giant gleaming black X-shaped contraption was wheeled out to the center of the stage. Shining silver cuffs lined with leather on the inside adorned the adjustable arms and legs, and she backed away from it. Surely he couldn’t mean to attach her to that. To do sexual things to her in front of the audience. That terrifying thought should have killed her arousal, but her pussy throbbed between her legs and her nipples felt hard enough to cut glass.

“Breathe, Tanwen,” Bryan said in a low voice and gave her hand a good squeeze.

Bryan pulled her against his chest as the arms of the X were lowered enough so that she wouldn’t be dangling from them. He whispered into her ear, “It is okay to be afraid, but you need to overcome your fear in order to earn the rewards that come from doing what scares you. You know I will do only what you’ve given me permission to do.”

“I’m not scared,” she lied and swallowed as the leather-clad assistants left the stage.

Bryan stood in front of her so she had no choice but to look at him. His gaze had gone chilly, and her stomach clenched. “Be honest with me, little flame, or I will make you regret lying.”

Uncomfortably aware of the hush that had fallen over the audience as they watched him, she said in an angry whisper, “Look, I’m up here. Let’s just get this over with.”

Without another word, Bryan picked her up in his arms and carried her to the X. The world whirled around her, and she yelped as he cuffed first one hand, then the other with ruthless efficiency. The leather bit into her wrists, and when she yanked against the restraints, it actually hurt.

She started to protest, but Bryan clasped his hand over her mouth. “Unless you want to use your safe word, you will be silent. I will not take disrespect from a sub, however new you may be. After this is over, we will discuss your punishment, so I would suggest you act like the lady you are and behave. Now, do you want to use your safe word?”

His words at once inflamed and enraged her, but she found her eyes flooding with tears as she slowly shook her head back and forth. The ice in his eyes thawed a tiny bit, and he brushed her hair back over her shoulders before removing his hand. “Not one word unless I give you permission to speak. You may, however, scream and moan as you wish to express your pleasure.”

She clenched her jaw so hard her teeth ached and glared at the floor in front of her. The sound of his shoes seemed loud as he walked behind her. A moment later, something soft and dark slid across her face, blinding her to the room. Her mouth opened to ask him what he was doing, but she shut it before more than a syllable came out. As her eyes adjusted, she realized the blindfold didn’t completely rob her of her sight. It was sheer enough that she could make out the shadow of his form as he moved in front of the bright lights.

He laughed softly and ran his hands down her sides, pausing to reach around and cup her breasts. “The blindfold is to make this easier for you. To make you concentrate on my touch, on my voice. You are my world at this moment, and I am yours.”

The warmth of his hands moved away, and she strained to find him in the darkness behind the blindfold. She tugged against the posts, starting when his hands gripped her right foot and pulled it until she had to widen her stance or fall. The cool leather of the cuff wrapped around her ankle and bound it to the cold wood. The action was repeated on the other side, and she found herself immobile, blind, and totally at the mercy of a man she barely knew in front of hundreds of people.