Her breathing grew heavier, her muscles loosening one by one. The pain and heat from a good flogging was like the pain of a deep tissue massage. It hurt, but in a way you knew you needed.
Despite his choice of a toy that produced a thud rather than a sting, the skin of her ass was starting to burn from repeated contact. The fire in her skin wasn’t something to run from—it was an anchor, pulling her down into herself.
Somewhere along the way, her mind went quiet.
Cessie drifted, her world narrowing to the feel of leather and suede, the sting and thud of the flogger, the rough caress of air against heated skin. Her knees trembled. She floated.
Then she started to cry.
They came without warning, tears sliding hot and silent down her cheeks. Not from the pain—no, the pain was perfect. Necessary. The tears came from somewhere deeper, a releaseshe knew she needed, but hadn’t been able to achieve on her own.
She barely noticed when the flogger paused. Barely registered the low voice of a stranger.
“Cessie?” the masculine voice said gently.
Cessie blinked, the world coming back into focus in pieces.
“Talk to him, baby.” Leon’s hand stroked her back, from mid to lower back, covering the skin he didn’t, and wouldn’t, flog.
A strange man was leaning against the wall so Cessie could see him. “I’m Drake, one of the Dungeon Monitors. You’re crying. Do you need to pause the scene or use your safe word?"
Cessie blinked, struggling for words. When they came, they tumbled out in a rush. “Please don’t stop him. I need him. I need this.” She swallowed, her voice thick. “This is the first time I’ve felt whole in a year.” She twisted to look at Leon. “Please, Master. Don’t stop.”
Leon’s thumb swept over her damp cheek. He nodded once to the monitor, who gave a brief smile and stepped away, satisfied.
"Good girl," Leon murmured, the words sinking into her bones. “You need more here?” He touched her burning ass.
She knew what he was really asking.
“I need more,” she said simply.
He stepped back. “Turn around.”
She turned, putting her back to the wall, the chain twisting above her. She blinked away the tears, then rubbed her cheeks against her arms to dry them. Now she could confirm that there were people watching her. Watching them.
It no longer felt embarrassing. It felt like it used to—like it was their privilege to witness her submission. She offered herself to her Master, and by extension to them because he allowed them to see her.
"Spread your legs," Leon said, voice cool and commanding.
She did, her thigh muscles trembling. Between the spread legs and the twist in the chain her arms were now pulled taut, and she had to brace her shoulders against the cool wall.
Leon lifted the flogger—the one with the gray suede tails, her favorite. He danced the soft tails across her breasts, teasing her nipples by brushing them with the very tips of the falls.
He stepped back, not moving until she looked at him.
She held his gaze for a moment, then submissively lowered her eyes.
She heard the whisper of fabric as his arm moved before she felt the light thud against her right breast, then her left. He alternated, careful and deliberate, the flogger kissing the soft, sensitive flesh, drawing gasps from her with every contact.
He paused every eight strokes, tucking the handle of the flogger into his back pocket so he had both hands free to pinch and roll her nipples. She moaned, the sharp sparks of sensation making her arch into his touch.
Then back to the flogger. He hit hard when he struck the undersides, lighter when he struck the upper curves or the nipples. Cessie surrendered to it, her head falling back, her body a map of heat and ache. She lived for the unexpected jolts of pain when one of the falls landed on her nipple just right.
“Where are you, baby?”
“Green,” she murmured. “Floaty.”
“What about this pretty pussy?” He stroked her labia with the smooth handle, sliding it back and forth until her slit parted, cupping the rounded end of the flogger handle which he’d used as a dildo more than once. He bumped her clit and her hips jerked in reaction to the pleasure.