Enslaved Read online

  Instead of speaking any more, he lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. Then he kissed her as gently as he could, stroking the parallel lines on her face tenderly—tracing them one by one with the tip of his tongue, trying to erase her hurt, to ease her pain and let her know how very much he still loved her.

  * * * * *

  “Oh, Thrace…” His name fell from Trin’s lips like a prayer as he kissed her. It amazed her, as always, that such a huge, muscular male could be so gentle…so tender. He handled her as though she was precious and valuable—someone cherished beyond what words could express or describe.

  Before he had started this, she had warned herself that she shouldn’t get too carried away when he started healing her. After all, it was clear that he wanted to leave and she didn’t have the right to try and stop him. Not after the way she’d treated him. But she couldn’t help melting inside when he touched her like this…when he kissed her so tenderly.

  “Thrace,” she whispered again and then somehow his mouth was covering hers, kissing her lips instead of her cheek. It reminded her of the first time he had kissed her—when they had been playing their roles at Dreaming Hills. But back then she’d been his Mistress and now she was…nothing.

  I have no claim on him. Not anymore. I gave it up when I pushed him awaye…

  The thought made her pull back from the kiss though it was the last thing she wanted to do.

  Thrace didn’t try to stop her. Instead he leaned back a little and looked at her.

  “Trin?” he murmured.

  “I…” Trin wasn’t sure what to say. Her mouth still tingled from his warm, gentle kiss. She wanted desperately to lean forward and kiss him again, to take his mouth with hers and show him how she truly felt—but she didn’t dare.

  Thrace seemed to understand her hesitation or at least, he didn’t push for an explanation.

  “Your back was harmed too, wasn’t it?” he murmured.

  “Yes.” Trin nodded, still twisting her fingers nervously in her lap. “Where…how…?”

  “Lie face down on the bed,” he said softly. “I’ll tend to you.”

  She nodded but didn’t move to do as he said.

  “The welts…my back is especially bad. They…they’re very painful,” she whispered.

  “Then I’ll be very, very careful.” He cupped her newly healed cheek in one big, warm hand and looked down into her eyes. “I’ll never hurt you, baby. You know that.”

  Trin’s heart jumped at the use of his old, sweet nickname.

  “I know,” she whispered. “I…I trust you, Thrace.”

  “That’s good to know,” he rumbled softly. “Because after I finish your back I’ll have to go lower…if you still want me to.”

  Trin’s breath caught in her throat. Though she had been healed and absolved by the Goddess, the teachings of her childhood were hard to overcome. Somewhere at the back of her head the mean, judgmental voice was still whispering shame and recrimination. She did her best to shut it off.

  “I do want you to,” she said, lifting her chin. “Please. If…you don’t mind.”

  “If I don’t mind?” He gave her a slow smile. “Baby, no matter what else is going on between us, you need to know that tasting and licking your sweet, soft body is still my favorite thing to do.”

  “Oh…” Trin could feel the blood rushing to her face and suddenly she had to drop her eyes. His words brought back so many memories…memories of his hands and mouth exploring her…memories of the way he’d knelt between her legs and licked and sucked her pussy until she came and came…

  Stop it, she told herself sternly. This is just about letting him heal you—that’s all. He’s probably still going to leave when it’s over. So don’t let yourself get too excited.

  “Turn over,” Thrace murmured, stroking her cheek. “Turn over and let me heal you, baby.”

  Trembling a little with nervous tension, Trin did as he said. Laying face down, she pillowed her head in her arms and closed her eyes, trying not to think…trying not to hope or to wish too much.

  “That’s good…that’s just right, baby.”

  Thrace got on the bed beside her and she could feel him bending over her, the warmth of his big body covering her like a blanket. She bit her lip but couldn’t stop the soft moan that came from her lips when he began healing her back with long, slow strokes of his tongue.

  As she had told him, her back was the most painful area. The high priestess had dragged the hrakka from her shoulders to her lower back and then criss-crossed her own lines, leaving a hatch mark of stinging welts that burned when they were touched even lightly.

  But Thrace’s mouth on her back didn’t hurt. Trin felt the by-now familiar tingling as his warm tongue stroked over her flesh, healing her wounds, making her whole again. The pain that had been tormenting her since the hrakka first clawed her tender skin at last disappeared completely. She gave a sign of relief and snuggled into the bed, flexing her back and lifting her hips in an unconscious gesture of relief.

  Thrace, however, seemed to take a different meaning from her movements—or maybe he was simply ready to move lower.

  “She hurt you here, too.” One big warm hand brushed lightly over Trin’s bare ass, making her gasp and jump.

  “Yes…she did,” she admitted a bit breathlessly. “No…no place was spared.” When she turned her head, she saw him watching her.

  “Can I heal you here?” he asked softly.

  This time Trin felt no hesitation.

  “Yes, she whispered. “Yes, please.”

  “My pleasure, Mistress,” he growled softly and her heart jumped again.

  “You don’t have to call me that anymore…you took off the collar,” she reminded him as he dragged his tongue over the rounded curve of her buttocks.

  His eyes blazed as he licked her again. “I didn’t want to. And now I wish to show you how much I feel for you…how devoted I am.”

  “And how…how do you want to show me that?” Trin whispered, still watching him as he finished healing her.

  “First of all by healing all of you—your inner thighs too.” Thrace gave her a meaningful look and turned her over gently but firmly so that she was once more on her back. “Will you let me do that, Mistress? Will you allow me to heal you everywhere?”

  Trin’s breath seemed to catch in her throat. Should she let him?

  “Yes,” she said, not giving the mean little voice in the back of her head time to protest. “Yes, I…I want that.”

  “That’s good, Mistress. Because I need to heal you now.”

  Hooking his arms under her half-bent knees, Thrace dragged her to the end of the bed and sank down before her. Trin moaned as he split her wide, opening her thighs for him to expose the last of the cruel, red welts that had covered her skin.

  “Oh, baby…” Thrace’s deep voice was sorrowful when he saw the evil marks of the hrakka. “This is…she really scratched you up bad. Even here.” One long finger touched briefly on Trin’s outer pussy lips and she jumped and moaned softly.

  “Yes, I…I know,” she whispered. “Can…do you think you can heal me?”

  “I know I can. Here more than anywhere else. And I’ll be gentle—I swear it.”

  “I know you will,” Trin whispered. Daring greatly, she spread her thighs a little wider, even though the action opened her pussy lips as well. “Go on,” she breathed. “Heal me, Thrace.”

  With a low groan that sounded suspiciously like her name, he leaned forward and dragged his hot, wet tongue gently over the tender flesh of her inner thighs.

  Trin moaned breathlessly as he bathed her thighs with his tongue, lapping gently, tracing the cruel lines to make them disappear. She could feel the cool tingling, followed by a heat that seemed to consume her like a flame—a need that was growing inside her with each caressing stroke of his tongue.

  Then Thrace looked up at her, his mouth hovering just above her bare pussy mound.

  “Mistress,” he growled softly. “