Emergence: Bound To Be Tested Part 1

Bound to be Tested.

Becca Jameson.

The whip never leaves a mark. Love...that's another story.

Emergence, Book 3.

Lori Polluck has reshaped her kink from bottom to top.

In the two years since her Dom disappeared without a trace, she's transformed herself from perfect submissive to successful Domme. Her relationship with her submissive, Margaret, is...comfortable. Life is good. Until her past strides into Emergence, commandeers her scene, and turns her heart inside out.

Jude Cavanaugh can't change his past, but he can definitely take charge of his future.

A mission he can never reveal took him away from Lori, he thought for good. But a twist of fate has brought him back to his life, his town, his club. He plans to reclaim it all-including his woman. Sure, she's with someone else. Sure, she's switched in every possible way. But the instant they touch, it's clear Lori is still his to control. And she doesn't like it one d.a.m.ned bit.

The road ahead will be rocky. Especially since Lori will just have to take it on faith that he won't skip out again. But when nightmares turn real, they'll both need to show ultimate trust to survive.

Warning: This book contains intense bondage scenes. Man on woman as well as woman on woman action will t.i.tillate the mind. Be prepared for public nudity, vibrators, a seriously huge d.i.l.d.o, restraints, a ring gag, spreader bars, lube action, and a steaming-hot wax scene...

Dedication.

Special thanks to my editor, Christa, for all her help on this project! It wouldn't have come together so smoothly without you! Especially the lube...and the wax...

Chapter One.

"Kneel here, pet." Lori stopped in the center of the mat and tugged the leash in her hand.

Margaret flinched subtly as she did her Domme's bidding. Only Lori would notice. Margaret was an amazing submissive, rarely balking at anything. She could perform most tasks perfectly without reprimand.

But this was new territory tonight. Lori had intentionally not mentioned a word about the scene they would be enacting for anyone who wanted to watch at Emergence.

"Keep your head down." Lori tapped Margaret's neck and circled her sub, inspecting her from every angle.

Margaret's hair fell forward, curtaining her face.

"Sit up straighter. Shoulders back. Don't worry about everyone else. Focus on pleasing me." She leaned in toward Margaret's ear. "I'm the only one who matters in this room."

"Yes, Mistress," Margaret whispered. She kneeled in the position she'd been taught, knees spread, chin down, hands clasping her wrists behind her back.

"What's your safe word?"

"Snake."

Lori smiled. Margaret hated snakes. It was the perfect word for anything unpleasant. Though Lori hoped she knew her sub well enough never to hear that word uttered from her lips in fear. They'd been together for over a year. Never had Margaret had to safe out.

Lori took a moment to admire Margaret's beauty. She knew others agreed the woman was stunning. Margaret was model perfect. Tall and slender with glorious, thick black hair that hung in waves down her back. Her alabaster skin was flawless. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s weren't large, but full enough for a woman of her frame. In this position they stood pert, her nipples high and pebbled. She could have been chilled from her nudity, but Lori knew better.

Lori watched Margaret breathe. She waited for her nerves to calm as her breaths became shallow and her chest rose less frequently.

People gathered. That had been the goal. It was Friday night, late. Maybe even the early hours of Sat.u.r.day by now. The time didn't matter to Lori.

She circled again, slower, knowing how Margaret would react each time Lori pa.s.sed by her gaze wearing her favorite tall black leather boots. The heels were high, but they didn't make a sound with her steps across the mat.

Lori paused behind Margaret. She'd planned this for two weeks. A public shibari scene. The six-foot-square, black mat had been laid in the center of the floor, directly beneath a system of hooks and pulleys hanging from the ceiling.

It wasn't uncommon for someone to reserve the spot for a scene. Margaret had witnessed others in this predicament before. Nevertheless, Lori's sub would be a ball of nerves wondering what Lori had planned.

Lori stepped close to Margaret's back, straddling her spread legs. She grasped Margaret's hair and tugged her head backward until Margaret faced the ceiling, her long neck exposed.

Margaret's mouth opened, but she didn't speak. Instead she closed her lips tight, her eyes wide.

Lori divided her hair into three sections and braided it in a long line down her back. She loved handling the woman's gorgeous locks, so unlike her own red curls. "I want to be able to see your face, pet." She let that last word drag out. She only used it when her sub was collared, like this evening. It put Margaret in her place and reminded her who was in charge.

When Lori finished, wrapping a band around the ends of Margaret's hair, she nudged her head back toward the mat.

The room was intentionally cool, and when Lori topped, she appreciated the movement of air. No matter what the temperature was outside, Emergence was never too warm inside. Lori stepped over Margaret's spread legs and came back to the front, watching the goose b.u.mps rise on Margaret's skin as a vent overhead came to life. The pink disks of her nipples pebbled harder and Lori couldn't resist pinching them both at once.

Margaret swayed forward but didn't break her position. The woman had the most sensitive nipples of anyone Lori knew. Just a flick could make her moan and squirm. It amazed Lori how well she handled the treatment under the current circ.u.mstances.

Lori leaned down, bending at the waist, and took one pink tip into her mouth, laving it first with her tongue and then biting firmly.

A soft moan escaped Margaret's lips, probably not loud enough for any ears except Lori's.

She left the other nipple alone, knowing how frustrating that would be for her pet. Popping free of the disk, she left it wet and stepped away.

Timing was the most important factor in this scene. Too much time spent tormenting her submissive would not keep Margaret on the edge of need. Too little and the woman would come faster than Lori intended.

And o.r.g.a.s.m was a.s.suredly the goal tonight. Margaret was a s.e.xual being. She could tolerate a lot of things, including a certain degree of pain, but in the end the woman needed release.

As she headed toward her bag of toys, Lori adjusted the front of her bustier. It extended just over her nipples. She wasn't the one on display this evening, but she loved how the tight leather made her feel. The matching skirt barely covered her a.s.s, and she glanced down to ensure it hadn't twisted. It was her confident outfit. And one thing she could use this evening was confidence.

Margaret might have been biting her cheek in suspense, but it was Lori who was faced with the task of making sure her sub both loved the scene and came screaming in the end.

Lori grabbed the soft black rope from her bag and sauntered toward her subject. Margaret was about to become a piece of art.

They'd experimented with shibari at home but never at the club. Unbeknownst to Margaret, Lori had borrowed another sub to practice on earlier in the week. It had taken Lori over an hour to get the knots the way she wanted them.

Lori approached Margaret from the front, holding the long length of rope in loops as though she were going to la.s.so someone. She lifted it to her pet's nose. "Remember this?"

Margaret inhaled deeply. "Yes, Mistress."

"I'm going to tie you now. I expect you to follow my instructions. Understood?"

"Yes, Mistress." Her voice was barely a whisper. She glanced from side to side, a subtle tip of her head.

"Eyes on the floor, pet. You know the drill. You worry about yourself. The audience wants to admire your body. Show them what a good pet you are."

"Yes, Mistress." Her feet moved. She curled her toes under.

Margaret smiled. Good. Nerves were good.

Lori stepped behind Margaret and began the sequence of knots she would use to bind her pet. Starting with one hand, she looped the rope between Margaret's fingers and around her wrist. With a tug, she repeated the same thing on the other hand until each was bound to the other, acting as cuffs.

Margaret straightened her spine, keeping her gaze to the floor.

Lori wrapped the rope around her sub's forearm and then threaded it between Margaret's arms to do the same on the other arm, weaving back and forth as she pulled Margaret's elbows together and forced her biceps tighter behind her.

When she reached the top, her pet's shoulders were stretched back, her chest thrust higher. G.o.d, she was gorgeous.

People began to whisper around the mat. Lori knew Margaret was fantastic. She could be a model. And right now, she could be a model for the display of s.e.x apparatuses.

Lori held the loose end of the rope and stroked her sub's soft white shoulders with her free hand. "You're doing well. You look stunning."

"Thank you, Mistress."

Next, Lori stepped around front and brought the rope across Margaret's shoulder, between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and around her back on the opposite side. Her t.i.t lifted, making Margaret gasp.

Lori wrapped the rope around her pet's back and then brought it under the other breast, through the center, and over her shoulder until both t.i.ts were raised high, matching. They looked larger lifted like that, and Lori had to hold her breath a moment to keep from dipping her head to suckle a nipple. Now wasn't the time.

In a series of crisscrosses, Lori decorated her sub in a perfect display of rope. The skin of Margaret's torso was pulled tight by the nylon. She was truly a piece of art, chest high, shoulders back, arms restrained.

When Lori finished with the front, she circled back around and pulled the rope from her sub's lower back to her ankle. Margaret's toes flexed as Lori lifted her foot to wrap the rope around her arch and then her ankle. The action forced her leg to remain in that spread position. She wouldn't have the slack to attempt to pull her ankles closer.

Reaching back around her pet's waist, Lori repeated the action on the other foot.

Margaret's head hung lower than necessary, her chest rising and falling with each short breath, all she could manage bound the way she was.

Lori dropped the loose end of the rope and stepped back. Perfection.

Slowly, she rounded the mat, taking in her pet's stance from every angle. She wished she'd thought to bring a camera. The finished product was better than what she'd practiced.

Lori ambled back to her bag and removed a soft flogger. Red. Her favorite color. She loved how the deep crimson contrasted with Margaret's white skin and the black rope. It would match the lines of welts she intended to inflict on her sub.

Tapping the supple leather against her palm, Lori returned to her sub. She spread her legs in a wide stance in front of Margaret and held the flogger to her nose. "I know how you love the scent of leather."

Margaret moaned as she inhaled. "Yes, Mistress." She lifted her head as Lori nudged her with the handle.

"I'm going to secure your wrists to the ceiling now. It'll force you to lean forward a bit. Let me know if it's too much. I don't want to hurt your shoulders." She lifted a brow.

"Yes, Mistress."

Lori pulled a hook from the ceiling and attached a length of rope from her pet's hands to the lever. She pulled to shorten the rope slowly.

Margaret leaned forward several inches as her arms rose behind her. When her hands and shoulders were parallel to the ground, Lori stopped. "Perfect. Are you okay, pet?"

"Yes, Mistress." Her head hung farther toward the ground. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s did too. They swayed slightly from the movement.

Lori reached with the handle of her flogger and nudged first one breast and then the other, making them jiggle where they hung between the crisscross of ropes securing them, and pressing the flesh until they appeared more engorged than usual.

"Your skin is so smooth." Lori kneeled in front of Margaret and stroked the pale flesh of her thighs, first one and then the other. She set the flogger down under Margaret's gaze and reached for both nipples to pinch them. "Except right here. These pink beauties stand out in contrast to your white t.i.ts."

Margaret's lips pursed.

Lori grabbed the flogger and stood abruptly. She trailed the loose ends of leather over Margaret's shoulders and down her back until she squirmed. "I'm going to flog you now. You aren't to make a sound. Understood?"

"Yes, Mistress."

Lori preferred to enforce a rule of response with her submissive. If she asked her pet yes or no questions from time to time, it helped ensure she was okay.

The first strike was meant to mark. She whipped the leather through the air, perfectly landing the blow across Margaret's a.s.s. Her sub bucked forward even though she'd known what was coming. She gasped, but she didn't scream.

Lori was proud. She smiled. Margaret was a gem.

Leaning down, Lori ran her finger along the welt, a perfect pink line. No blood. She never hit to inflict permanent injury. She only struck hard enough to leave a temporary mark. She soothed Margaret with her palm, rubbing it over the exposed flesh and squeezing the white globes one at a time with her entire hand. "That's so s.e.xy. I love when you wear my mark."

Lori stood. She teased her sub with the flogger once again, trailing it up her back and across her neck. Margaret would feel the tickle of the leather everywhere not covered with rope.

Without warning, Lori landed another strike across Margaret's skin, lower this time, right at the junction of her a.s.s with her thighs. She didn't hit her as hard, and the pink line that formed wasn't as wide or as bright.

Margaret moaned. Not loud, but enough to make Lori slap Margaret's left b.u.t.t cheek with her bare palm. "What did I say? No noises."

She righted herself again and watched the flush form on her sub's fine a.s.s. She knew Margaret would be wet, but she wasn't ready to stroke her sub's p.u.s.s.y yet.

"If you wait longer between each blow, the need to come will well up inside her, giving you stronger results in the end. I bet she's f.u.c.king hot when she o.r.g.a.s.ms." The deep, even, commanding voice coming from behind Lori made her freeze in her spot.

Like a statue, she didn't move. She couldn't have moved a muscle if she'd wanted to. Her brain had stopped sending commands to her limbs the moment the first syllable was uttered in that low timbre she'd never expected to hear again in this lifetime.

Holy mother of G.o.d. How long had it been? Two years. She didn't need to ask herself that. She knew the number of days she'd gone without hearing that voice as well as she knew the months of the year or the letters of the alphabet.

He stepped up behind her. She could feel the heat from his body as it crowded her s.p.a.ce. No one was supposed to interrupt a scene without cause. They most a.s.suredly weren't supposed to approach a scene.

But this wasn't some random Dom. It was Jude. Jude Cavanaugh.

And he certainly wasn't allowed to touch either the Domme or her sub in the middle of a scene. But no one said a word as his hand ran down Lori's arm, starting at her shoulder and making its way down her bare biceps, over her elbow and across the now-pebbled flesh of her forearm.

Every inch of her came to life, her skin burning where he'd touched her as though his fingers were hot pokers instead of body temperature.