Chained Read online

  “That was…” He didn’t have any words.

  “Amazing.” Nina’s voice was shaky. “I never knew it could be so hot to be in control.”

  “I never knew it could be so fucking hot to give up control,” Reddix admitted. “Although we did kind of switch back there toward the end.”

  “Did you mind?” Nina rolled over to face him. “I was just getting so hot and bothered but I couldn’t quite get where I needed to go. That thing felt good inside me but it just wasn’t you.”

  Reddix chuckled. “Glad to hear I can’t be so easily replaced.”

  “Of course not.” She kissed his cheek. “Never. But you didn’t mind that I, uh, stopped in the middle?”

  “Nah.” Reddix shook his head. “I wouldn’t mind finishing the other way another time. But this…” Smiling he cupped her cheek in one hand and looked into her eyes. “This was perfect.”

  “I like that we can both give and receive without anybody feeling weird about it,” Nina said thoughtfully. “Do you know how lucky we are?”

  “We’re blessed by the Goddess. We always have been—even before we found our way back to each other.” Reddix stroked her cheek again. “She can take any situation and turn it to her purposes.”

  Nina sighed and a troubled look came over her face. “I hope you’re right. And I hope she’s looking after Maggie right now. Wherever she is.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Where in the world are we?” Maggie demanded, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings. One minute they had been walking through a fragrant pink mist so thick it was impossible to see a foot in front of your face, and now they appeared to be in the middle of a very strange forest. The trees were of varying shapes and sizes with leaves every color of the rainbow. Even stranger, was their bark, which appeared to be made of all kinds of different material. For instance, the tree closest to Maggie was a slender young sapling with bark that seemed to be made of pure white satin. In fact, it looked so soft and sleek she wanted to touch it.

  Beside the first tree was a bigger, thicker one with bark made out of gold lamee. Past that one was a trunk with bark of purple spandex, then one with bark made of delicate lace, and a tiny tree with pale blue and pink bark that looked as soft as a baby’s first blanket. They were so interesting and unusual Kat wanted to study them all, but she had an idea she might get kicked out of the spa if she took samples of what was clearly a rare botanical garden. So she had to content herself with looking and speculating on how in the world such trees had been bred and cultivated.

  “I think this is the Dreaming Wood.” Kor frowned and looked around. “My patroness never talked about this place much. She said she was too old to have many dreams left—she preferred the Remembrance Pool.”

  “Okay, so we’re in the wood.” Maggie sighed. “Remind me again of why I had to put on this ridiculous outfit just to go for a walk in the trees?”

  She tugged at the too-tight black cat-suit Kor had insisted that she wear. Then again, all the clothes she’d had to pick from were too tight because they belonged to the boney Lady Pope’nose.

  “Because it allows for maximum sensation,” Kor said, his pale blue eyes flicking over her body. “Besides, it suits you.”

  “The top, maybe.” Maggie tugged at it again. The suit molded to her entire body, but at least it covered everything—which was more than she could say for most of what Lady Pope’nose had packed. She wasn’t too thrilled that it couldn’t be worn with undergarments, though—the black stretchy material hugged her breasts and outlined her nipples, making it more than clear she wasn’t wearing a bra.

  But the top of the suit wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as the bottom. It clung to her overly-large hips and ass as though it had been painted on. Not only that, but it kept wanting to ride up between her legs, making it even more embarrassingly obvious that she had no panties on.

  “The top is nice,” Kor agreed. “But I like the bottom, too.” His eyes flickered over her again, straying to her behind and staying there.

  “Stop it! Stop looking at me like that,” Maggie hissed, her cheeks getting hot. “You promised not to laugh at anything I had to wear while we’re here.”

  “Who’s laughing?” His pale blue eyes were half-lidded as he studied her. “I mean it—the suit looks good on you, blondie. More than good.”

  “You…I…” Maggie didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t used to getting compliments on her appearance. Donald almost never noticed anything about her, even when she tried something different with her hair or bought a new outfit. Not that she would ever buy something this outrageous to wear around him. She could almost hear him now, Take that off, Margaret! You look ridiculous!

  But Kor wasn’t looking at her as though he found her ridiculous. In fact, the way he was staring reminded Maggie of how she’d washed all the verium dust off his body and the feel of his hard muscles under her bare hands…

  Stop it! she scolded herself. You’re engaged, remember?

  “Um…so what do we do?” she asked, trying to cover her confusion.

  Kor shrugged. “What the other mistresses are doing, I guess. Just watch and copy what they do.”

  “Of course.” Maggie nodded. Now that he mentioned it, she saw that there were a few other women spread out among the trees, mostly dressed in the same kind of skin-tight outfit Maggie was wearing. They were wandering slowly through the forest, apparently communing with nature.

  Maggie watched one in particular—a mistress with tall, white-blonde hair that had purple streaks like the Bride of Frankenstein. Every now and again, she would stop and caress one of the trunks with her fingertips, an expression of ecstasy overspreading her face. Her slave trailed behind her looking bored. Sometimes if the look on his mistress’s face grew intense, he would tug her gently away from whatever trunk she had been touching and she would smile and nod and go on to the next tree.

  “Looks simple enough,” Kor remarked as they stepped into the forest, which was carpeted in soft dark blue moss.

  “Sure does,” Maggie agreed. “Touch a tree, make a face, move on. Okay, let’s go. I want to get done here and go back to the room to take samples.”

  “We still have to visit the Remembrance Pool too,” Kor reminded her.

  “That’s right. Damn it!” Maggie could scarcely contain her irritation. Here she was on a strange alien world filled with new plant and animal specimens but was she allowed to study any it? No. Instead, she had to prance around in a ridiculous, embarrassing outfit that showed way more of her private areas than she was comfortable with and pretend to take part in some useless social ritual that was just completely—

  Just at that moment, Maggie’s hand landed on a tree trunk. Actually, it was the white satin one she’d first been admiring. And then everything changed…

  Immediately, she was transported from the forest and straight to the tiny wedding chapel in Key West where her parents had been married. Her brother and older sister had been married there too—it was a family tradition but one Maggie hadn’t been sure she would ever get to participate in. Because, though Donald had finally broken down and asked her to marry him two years ago, he had shown absolutely zero indication to actually set a date for the actual wedding.

  Yet, here she was in the chapel with the warm, tropical breeze blowing through the open windows. The faint cry of sea birds could be heard outside over the low, tuneful sound of an ancient pipe organ playing.

  Looking around, Maggie saw the whole place was filled with flowers—white orchids and pale pink roses that gave off a sweet, lovely scent. Her whole family was there too—filling the rows of pews and smiling at her. Her mother was even wiping away a tear. She had been very against Maggie getting engaged to Donald in the first place—mainly because she was certain he would never actually get around to getting married. The relieved look on her face told Maggie she was glad to be wrong.

  Suddenly someone nudged her in the back.

  “Come on, Maggie—they’re pla