Page 43

Zephyr

A fter that training session, Sherrod wanted to leave the station for good.

Somehow Zelena and I convinced him that would be worse than staying, and he insisted on accompanying me to any future training sessions.

Cypher didn’t show up to any others, but that didn’t stop Sherrod from skulking in the corner for each one.

And when I finally told him that Cypher seemed to be trained by my uncle, he really lost it.

“That’s it, we’re leaving!” he shouted, tossing clothes on the bed.

I pressed one hand to his chest and yanked his head down to plant a hard kiss on him.

“No, we’re not,” I said, “we have a job to do. And this is just one more piece of information. If my uncle trained him then we know what we’re up against even better.”

“Yeah, someone who is way more dangerous than we thought.”

“Yes, and also, how he thinks.”

Sherrod looked away, his jaw clenched.

“There’s something off about him though,” he said after a moment. “He’s more vicious than I ever remember the commander being.”

“Oh yeah, something definitely went wrong. You don’t remember my uncle talking about anyone like Cypher, do you?”

“No, he rarely brought up any of the others he trained. Other than you and Zelena, I had no idea who his other pupils were. You?”

“No, you were the only one.”

“Great, just great.”

It took a bit more cajoling before Sherrod put his clothes back in the closet, and even then he was by my side until the very last moment in the prep room before the matches.

My first match, after becoming Lady Seraph’s fighter was a cake walk and was over in less than two minutes. It made me wonder if they all would be this easy. Then the second match came around two days later and I was soundly disabused of that assumption.

This woman was out to prove a point, and she did it with brutal efficiency that took me by surprise. I was chagrined to realize that I hadn’t taken this match seriously until she landed a solid blow to my jaw, blood blooming in my mouth.

I did end up the victor, but it wasn’t an easy win.

By the time she lay unconscious in the dirt at my feet, I had multiple bruises and a split lip.

Sherrod insisted on a doctor examining me, even though my internal systems had done a thorough diagnostic.

Once the physician had cleared me, taking care to clean my cuts and ensure I hadn’t lost a tooth, Sherrod let out a long breath.

“I have some healing accelerants in case you will be attending the Bryson party tomorrow,” the doctor had offered.

I shook my head and pointed at my facial cyber unit.

“I’m all good.”

I didn’t tell him that I had no intention of attending any of the parties hosted by the families between matches. The thought of having to schmooze and endure their oily stares made my skin crawl. But more than that, I wanted as much time as I could with Sherrod.

He whisked me out of the doctor’s office and into an empty elevator as soon as he could. When the doors shut, Sherrod took me gently in his arms, like I would break at any minute.

“I’m really alright.” My voice was edged with frustration. “You can hug me tighter.”

“I don’t know how many more of these I can take,” he admitted. “I know you’re tough but watching you in there, knowing that some of these fighters are out for blood…”

I ran my hand down the nape of his neck, already knowing how to soothe him. It worked enough for him to let me go when we arrived at the suite. We went to our room without another word and he drew a bath.

The medicinal salts were pure heaven against my sensitive skin, helping ease the pain of my nanites healing the injuries I’d sustained.

When the bath water had cooled, Sherrod picked me up and laid me on our bed.

I thought perhaps he was going to seduce me when he lit candles around the room.

But then he knelt by my naked body and began to massage my back and thighs with warm oil, and I swore I’d died and gone to heaven.

My eyes drifted closed and the next thing I knew, Sherrod was in absolutely nothing as he turned down the covers, his half-hard cock bobbing between his thighs, and I was suddenly very awake.

I reached for him and Sherrod shook his head.

“You’re hurt and you need—”

“You,” I finished for him, framing his face with my hands. “I need you.”

He turned his head and pressed a soft kiss to my palm.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked.

I was so damn tired of everyone relying on me to see into the future, or into the minds of my opponents and make plans.

I felt as if I’d lived three lifetimes worth of leading people to their deaths and now I was the one not only making the decisions, but implementing them too.

The weight of it all bore down on me, and I just wanted someone else to take over, just for a few hours.

So looked up at Sherrod, knowing that out of everyone in this fucked up universe, he was the one I could trust without question.

“Take control of me,” I whispered, “of my pleasure tonight. Do whatever you’d like to me.”

His eyebrows winged up high and his breath picked up.

“Do you know what that means? What I want to do?”

I nodded.

“Alright, what is your safe word?” his voice rasped with anticipation.

“Salt.”

He nodded.

“Boundaries?”

“No hitting, no spanking, don’t call me names,” I said.

“Can I tie you up?”

I licked my lips. I’d never, ever trusted anyone to do that before, but I found myself wet at the thought of being at Sherrod’s mercy.

“Yes.”

“Blindfold?”

“Yes.”

His eyes were the color of spring grass in the candlelight, and he studied me intently before giving me a short nod.

“You’ll tell me if it hurts in a bad way?” he asked.

“I promise.”

“Okay,” he stood up. “Stay there, laying on your stomach. Don’t move.”

“Yes sir.”

His grin was wolfish, sending a shiver of anticipation through me before he went to our closet. A moment later he came out with ties from his extensive wardrobe. They shimmered like inky water and when he trailed one of them over my naked skin, I gasped at the sensation of the soft fabric.

“Do you have any idea how fucking gorgeous you are?” he asked, trailing the tie back up my body. “I look at you sometimes and I’m struck dumb by it. And now, to have you at my mercy, in my control…it’s intoxicating.”

When the end of the tie was but a whisper against my suddenly drenched cunt, I whimpered. The soft touch was exquisite torture and I had a feeling it was just getting started.

He kept on like that with the tie, following it with his fingers until he turned me over, manipulating me like a rag doll.

It was one of the most indulgent things I’d ever experienced, to be handled so completely and gently, no need to make any decisions.

The tie grazed my nipples and I couldn’t help rubbing my thighs together at the erotic sensations.

“No, no,” Sherrod chided, separating my legs. “You’re not allowed to come until I say so. You want me in control, that’s what I’ll do. So sit back, and let me give you pleasure, let me decide when you come and when you’re done.”

He whispered the words into my ear while he toyed with my clit, soft strokes of his finger that drove me higher and higher, only to pull away as I neared the precipice.

“Close your eyes,” he demanded.

“Yes, sir,” I breathed.

Cast in darkness, the flicker of a candle sometimes shining orange behind my lids, I was aware of everything in such a sharper way.

When he wrapped one of the ties around my left ankle, it was impossibly soft yet tight, and the contradiction sent chills of anticipation up my body.

And then he did the other one, attaching them to something that kept my legs parted.

He tied my hands together next, attaching them to headboard I guessed.

“Look at you,” Sherrod said, his voice dark as sin and sweet as sugar. “Your pussy is glistening, so plump and swollen. You want me to fill you up so bad, don’t you?”

“Yes, please.”

He ran a finger through my folds and my back bowed off the bed. But it was just a single touch and I whined in disappointment.

“Patience…” I heard him suck on his finger and I writhed on the bed.

Another tie came over my eyes, soft and shutting out even the candle light. Now I was truly in darkness and for what felt like an eternity, there was no touch, no movement, no sound but the candles sputtering.

“What’s your safe word?” he demanded just as I was about to call his name.

“Salt.”

His mouth covered mine in a possessive yet intensely gentle kiss.

“Good girl.”

He breathed the words over my mouth and my nipples tightened to stiff peaks. I’d never had a praise kink with anyone, ever. It had always seemed demeaning, but with Sherrod it was the strongest of aphrodisiacs. I stretched and arched my back at the words, silently begging for his touch.

Instead, I was rewarded with hot liquid dripping over my nipples. At first, it was painful and then quickly, the warmth soothed me and the slow trail of it down my torso was delicious. I realized after the first few pours that it was hot wax.

“Ooooh,” I gasped after another pour, this time on my stomach. “Fuck…I never…”

“Should I stop?” he asked, and I could hear the grin in his voice.

“No!”

“Is that any way to ask me for what you want?”

“Please, Sherrod, please don’t stop.”