Page 28

For a long moment, he just held me before he took a step back and grasped the bottom of my shirt. He lifted it up and over my head. Slowly, he stripped me of each piece of clothing, but this time felt different. This time I was afraid.

My clit pulsed anyway.

When he finally reached for my bra and panties, he paused for a moment, running his fingertips over my skin.

Fiery tendrils raced over my skin like a wild blaze.

Then he reached behind my shoulders and unclasped my bra.

He slid the straps unhurriedly down my upper arms, baring my breasts slowly.

My nipples pebbled in the cool breeze, and I raised my hands to cover them.

I looked back and forth, knowing we were all alone but nervous someone might see all the same.

“You may either keep your arms at your sides or clasp your hands behind your head,” he directed, and the anxious flush only heated my face even further.

When I didn’t obey right away, he knocked my hands out of the way and grasped both nipples in his fingers.

He pinched them far more fiercely than he’d ever done before, causing shivers of agony to radiate out across my breasts.

I cried out, immediately pressing my hands to the back of my head.

A few seconds later, he released me. My tender nipples throbbed even harder after he let go.

He grasped my panties and pulled them down to my ankles.

“Straddle the log, little girl, facing that way,” he indicated the lower end of the old tree.

I glanced from him back to it, chewing my lip anxiously. I imagined what I would look like bent over such a thing in the middle of the woods, how much I would be on display for him during what was to come.

“I…”

He lifted a single eyebrow, and I stopped speaking almost instantly.

“Do as you’re told, little girl. This will be much easier for you if you are obedient for me,” he said tenderly.

“Will it hurt?” I whispered fretfully.

“The punishment will sting, yes, but you know I would never hurt you, don’t you?”

“I do know that. I trust you, Ryker,” I murmured, dropping my gaze to the ground. Gooseflesh popped up all over my body and a cold shiver of dread raced down my spine.

“Good,” he answered. He reached out, cupping my face in his palm.

I leaned into his touch, not wanting it to end but it eventually did when he pulled away.

I sighed and padded over to the log. The thick moss beneath my feet was soft.

I pressed my hands against the tree trunk, noticing that he had folded the blanket twice.

I climbed over it, thankful for the thick barrier between me and the hard surface of the tree bark beneath.

In a strange way, it was sweet, thoughtful.

The tree supported me lengthwise, as I lay my body down, but it was angled downward so that my head was much lower than my bare backside. My thighs were spread open around the thick trunk, putting my pussy on complete display.

His palm caressed my left cheek.

“I’m going to cut a switch, little girl. You will wait here for me and think about what you did until I return,” he instructed.

My eyes opened wide, terror racing through me as I slowly digested his words. He couldn’t be serious, right?

A switch?

I’d only read one book that mentioned switching.

I knew enough to know that it would sting very much and could even break the skin.

Anxiously, I lifted my head, watching as he walked the perimeter of the clearing, testing several branches before he settled on one.

He used his knife to cut it off. With practiced hands, he trimmed off the excess twigs and leaves still attached to it.

When he was finished, he had a long thin branch in his hands.

He whipped it in front of him a few times and the whistle it made as it whooshed through the air made me jump a little against the log.

A very real panic started to develop inside me.

“Please, maybe just use your hand this time?” I tried. I pushed up against the log and his palm on my upper back slowly pressed me back down. There would be no escaping this.

“Little girl, you were about to set out all on your own. You were going to cross the bridge by yourself. If you had fallen, I would have had no way of knowing. Even if you had made it across, you could have gotten lost in the woods or attacked by animals. Not to mention what could happen to you if you went back to New Englandia alone! Didn’t you stop to think about what they were willing to do to you?

Those so-called guards had orders to KILL you, Naomi!

” His voice rose to an actual shout on that last bit.

“What would the council do to you to keep that information quiet if you showed up there again? What made you think they would even respond to your call for help? They would more likely leave you here to die in the wilderness. What you intended to do was very dangerous and that needs to be dealt with harshly enough so that nothing like it ever happens again.”

His scolding made me squirm. The more he talked, the more stupid I felt, realizing I had not thought this through at all.

However, the longer it went on, the more I realized my nervousness was turning into a strong sense of arousal.

He was being so serious, so sincere, and here I was, getting horny again.

I shifted over the tree, knowing that I was wet and that he could probably see it.

Did he like that? Did I?

His hand slid down the length of my spine, settling on my lower back. He pressed down slightly and a part of me was grateful just to feel his touch on my skin. I turned my head and glanced back at him. His eyes caught mine and the warmth I was accustomed to seeing was there once more.

“You were a very naughty girl and I’m going to punish you for it,” he dictated.

He laid the switch on my bottom. It was cool against my skin, and I startled, but he didn’t use it just yet.

“It’s time, my bad girl,” he murmured.

I took a deep breath, trying to prepare myself for what was to come.

It wasn’t enough.

The switch was flexible, whipping across both sides of my bare bottom.

The rush as it cut through the air was audible and by the time it hit me, my body had braced itself.

The impact stung so much more than I thought it would.

It was like my flesh had caught fire, smoldering, and then building into a scalding blaze as the welt started to rise on my skin.

I couldn’t stop the hiss that escaped me. Oh, fuck! It hurt so much!

It was far different from his hand or his belt.

That pain was spread out over a greater area, which made it almost duller in a way.

Not like this. This was much sharper, the entire sting from the branch all centered in a very thin line across my backside.

Before I was ready, he thrashed me with several stinging strokes in quick succession.

All the air billowed out of my lungs, and I stopped breathing for a second as the fierce sting took hold once again.

I bit my lip, realizing for the first time that this was real.

Ryker was punishing me for a very real reason.

I sucked in a mouthful of air and the switch whipped me several more times. My thighs tensed around the fallen tree, holding on as the pain took over my body. My spine arched, the vicious wave of agony building as it rolled through me.

I rocked back a tiny bit and gasped in surprise.

There was a raised knob on the tree trunk. If I moved just so, I could rub my clit against it. I squeezed my eyes shut. It might even be enough to make me come.

The switch blazed down on my bottom many more times, immediately taking my focus from the needy little bundle between my thighs and turning it back to the burning state of my backside.

“Aiiyyy!” I cried out, loud enough to scare birds from the trees nearby.

He whipped from the tops of my cheeks all the way down to the bottom of my ass, several times, but he didn’t stop there.

He paused and climbed over the log to stand on my other side.

In a commanding tone, he instructed me to pull my legs up onto the log.

When I’d done so, wobbling a bit to keep my balance, he grasped both my ankles in his left hand.

Then he lifted that evil branch high and proceeded to switch the full length of both thighs so hard that I knew they would bear the marks of this punishment long after it was over.

I yelled out again, trying to bite my lip.

I didn’t want to be too loud in case someone might hear, but soon I stopped caring.

Honestly, there was no one here, only the two of us.

I could yell all I wanted or needed to. No one would hear, and no one would come to help me.

Ryker would punish me for as long as he thought I deserved.

The sting built.

And built.

And built some more.

It became a fiery slash of agony that consumed my entire being. Soon, the lines of fire merged together into a burning blanket that refused to abate even just a little.

“Please!” I begged, shrieking the word in desperation.

The more I squirmed, the more my clit rubbed against the bump on the tree. I was much wetter than I had been when he’d first stripped me. My arousal was building at a dizzying pace, quickly catching up with the stinging ache that was burning across my naked flesh.

He paused for a moment, and I took the opportunity to catch my breath.

Coming back around to his original position, he said, “I’m going to give you ten more with the switch, then I’m going to finish your punishment with my hand. You will keep your own legs in position on top of the log.”

My pussy clenched hard. Knowing he was going to use his hand should have been a relief, but the way he said it just made me more nervous.