Pride (3 page)

My hand moved back up and I begged, “
Please
, Master, may I play with my clit?”

The words came out easily. If you’d told me yesterday those words would’ve ever left my mouth, I’d have laughed at you. Or punched you in the face, depending on my mood.

“Not yet, my little bitch.”

He moved faster, and my body was pushed forwards and pulled backwards with every thrust. As I was approaching an orgasm even with nothing pressing my clit, the spines on his cock came out, and I fought and twisted, trying to get away, but he held me down as he pounded me now, slicing and cutting me inside with every thrust, his hands bruising me where they held me, preventing my escape. The spines and barbs on his cock were more intense than any I’d ever felt before, and somehow, I knew this was part of the punishment, yet another way to tear me down and make me his.

My screams were once again frantic, full of pain, and I heard myself begging for respite, though I knew it wouldn’t be given.

And yet, when he ordered me to play with myself, I came around his barbed cock, my spasms causing even more pain, but the orgasm kept going until I couldn’t tell the difference between the pain and the pleasure — I could only scream about it as tears streaked down my face once again, and my climax threatened to break me in ways the belting never could’ve.

I hadn’t been fully broken when I kissed his feet downstairs. Now I was, and the tears came faster as the realization hit me.

I don’t know if he knew why I was crying. It’s possible he thought it was pain from the spines on his cock, though I have a feeling not much gets by him, and he knew exactly when he finally broke me,
completely
.

Normally, when the pressure builds enough for a lion’s spines to come out, he only has another one to three dozen thrusts before he gets off, and it’s over.

The rules are different for the Amakhosi, though, as he’d explained earlier. He’s in total control of everything, and his punishing barbed spines were out as he fucked me through four painful orgasms before he finally came, his ejaculate burning and scalding my raw vaginal walls, creating even more fire inside, and my vocal cords shifted just long enough for me to roar through my final orgasm.

His roar was louder, and I cowered on the bed before him, but he leaned down, kissed my cheek, and then situated me comfortably on my side before spooning behind me. I could smell my blood, and a lot of it, but he wouldn’t let me sit up and look.

“If the sheets and blanket have sentimental value, let me know and I’ll go throw them in the washing machine. Otherwise, I’ll buy you new and we’ll just throw these away.”

I shook my head. “Not sentimental about my sheets. The blanket’s expensive though, so it’s up to you.”

He chuckled. “If it costs less than a thousand dollars, I’m not getting up.”

“But, you would’ve if it meant something to me?”

He kissed my cheek, in answer. “Sleep while you can. I’ll want you again in an hour. Maybe less.”

Chapter Four

Lionesses can take a lot of damage, and as the night progressed, he showed me just how much I could take.

When my alarm went off the next morning, I groaned as I shut it off and sat on the side of the bed.

“You
are
going to allow me to work today, aren’t you, Master? If this crew tried to work without supervision, they’d cost me more money than they’d make me. Possibly a lot more.”

“You’ve barely had three hours of sleep, and not all at once, I beat you black and blue,
and
your pussy’s in tatters, Jessica. You can’t possibly be considering going to work.”

“Promised the homeowner we’d be finished by next weekend, Master. I like to keep my promises.”

He sighed, sat up, and looked at me a full minute — with my eyes aimed down, showing respect. Finally, he said, “I watched you work from a distance the last half of the day, yesterday. I’m capable of overseeing them. Go in with me, introduce me as Nathan, no last name, and tell them you’re under the weather and you’ve brought me in to run things. If you wear pants and a short sleeve shirt, all the bruises will be covered. Take your laptop, and you can supervise your guys installing the new kitchen cabinets while you get some of the office work done you’d intended to do last night. I’ll take over upstairs and oversee the bathroom renovation.”

He was hundreds and hundreds of years old, and I’d have to trust he’d worked construction at some point, and would know enough to keep from fucking things up. It was a good plan, and I wasn’t in a position to argue, anyway.

Chapter Five

Sometime after midnight that night, after he’d used my own bullwhip on me, and then once again fucked me into oblivion with the spines on his cock out the entire time, he took me outside and allowed me to
change
.

We ran in the woods together for hours, and he fucked me in lion form more times than I can count, but it was the most beautiful, marvelous, fantabulous experience, and I never wanted it to end. We wrestled, and swatted each other, but it was playful, fun, and my lioness had no issues with showing respect and submitting when his body language demanded it.

I was tired the next morning, but no longer bruised or raw, and he sent me off to work without him.

Amy, my girlfriend, was due home around seven in the evening, and I worried more than a little about how that would go. I loved her, loved our life together, but I couldn’t fret about the future yet because in the short term I worried about him hurting her. If he broke her as he’d broken me, she might stay broken.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and bought a dozen huge buffalo steaks, along with a ten pound bag of potatoes. Shapeshifters can put away a lot of food, and I was feeling the need to feed the Amakhosi.

I felt three members of my pride when I pulled into my driveway, and realized he’d blocked me from feeling what he’d been doing to them while I was at work.

These were the three who’d been the most involved in the zoo fiasco, and I’d expected him to make his own point with them, but I still worried.

He came out my front door as I parked, and when I got out he motioned for me to get back in the car. He slid into the passenger seat, closed his door, and said, “Turn the radio on. I want to be certain they can’t hear us.”

When it was on, he said, “You’ll walk in with me, side-by-side. Not my equal, but my partner when it comes to leading the pride. You’ll show me respect without going to your knees. You’ll call me whatever feels right in the moment – Sir, Master, My King, Your Majesty, or Your Highness. I don’t want to undermine your position with them, but you have to know if you make me feel the need to assert my dominance with you, I will, and it’ll be brutal.”

“I understand, Your Majesty.”

“Let me be clear of my intentions. This isn’t romance, I’m not in love with you. You’re mine because I’m the Amakhosi, and as the one in charge, I’m going to fix it so you don’t have to keep killing lions who think they’ve found a pride they can take over. I’ll claim your pride as mine, and put the word out anyone who tries to claim it is challenging me for ownership. Should any of you want to bring a lion in, you’ll need to let me know so I can do it the right way, and I’m not forced to kill him in a fight for dominance.”

“Thank you, My King. It’s more than I would’ve dared ask for.”

“Oh, I’m not going to claim you and leave you alone. I’ll be here at least two or three times a year, and you’ll step down and let me lead
our
pride while I’m here. You and I both know if my scent signature isn’t reinforced, this arrangement won’t work.”

“Yes, Sir. I know.”

He smiled, and it lit his whole face. I wasn’t in love with him, either, but I’d have done anything to keep him happy.

“I smell buffalo.”

“Yes, Sir. I bought a dozen huge steaks. I usually eat two or three, so I figured you’d want more.”

“You can cook them for me, and we’ll eat while your three naughty girls are locked up downstairs. I’ve had the day with them, and you might consider allowing the zoo ringleader to
change
, tonight, but I’ll once again leave that call up to you.”

“Why are you being so nice, Sir?”

He stroked my cheek, and instead of answering, told me, “I’ve invited the rest of the pride to begin arriving at ten tonight, which should give us time with Amy before we bring in the final four.”

I looked him in the eyes, searching for his intentions before I dropped my gaze and said, “Amy is… she’s…” I couldn’t tell him what to do — I needed to appeal to this new, nice guy, and not risk bringing the Amakhosi I’d first met, back. “My King, Amy’s naturally submissive. What’s mine is yours, and I wouldn’t dare try to make demands, but I plead with you to treat her as her own person, and not just as my property.”

“She’s naturally submissive, and yet she chose to join an all-female pride?”

“She’s lesbian, Your Majesty. It isn’t about turning her back on tradition, it’s because she isn’t attracted to men.”

And she’d been in a horrible pride, growing up. She’d first been raped sometime in elementary school, though she wasn’t sure exactly how old. Lions may not consider it rape, but when it’s a child I don’t think there’s another way to term it, even for those of us who’re half animal.

He sighed, bent until his forehead touched mine, and cradled my cheek in his palm. “
Our
pride, Jessica. I’m in charge when I’m here, but I don’t intend to tear it apart and then leave you to put the pieces back together.”

* * * *

When we finished eating, I followed him downstairs.

Two of my pride were in the cage, asleep, and the other was in the stocks, her feet in the iron rings, and he’d bullwhipped her so much, if she were human she’d need hundreds of stitches.

She had dried blood around her ass, as well as her cunt.

He’d told me we were to function as a unit around the pride, with my deferring to him when he made a decision, but he’d assured me he wouldn’t undermine my authority as long as I showed the proper respect. If I’d seen blood around the asshole of any other member of my pride, I’d have asked him to leave the room so I could question what had happened, but with Becca? I knew how hard it was to break her. I hadn’t been able to do it, and I didn’t doubt it’d taken every bit of the damage I could see to bring her to heel.

I’d whipped her a few times, and fucked her regularly, and I hadn’t allowed her to
change
yet because I hadn’t been convinced she’d been taken low enough. She’d challenged my authority and put the pride at risk, and I wasn’t certain she wouldn’t do it again.

I wondered if the Amakhosi had managed to break through her defenses, and knew there was only one way to find out. I walked to the cabinet and pulled my strap-on out as I said, “Your Majesty, if you can release her from the stocks, please?”

My strap-on has two cocks. One is fastened up and out of the way. It has little sharp, metal points lining it, so it rips and tears, just like a male lion’s member.

The other is stainless steel, rigid, and a good bit larger around than a normal penis.

I have normal strap-ons upstairs, for my relationship with Amy, but this is the punishment room.

I didn’t say a word, but waited to see what my naughty little ringleader would do, and Becca dropped to her knees, turned, and offered her cunt, with her back arched so I had easy entry.

My harness is designed to press into my clit as I thrust, and I reamed her hard for at least ten minutes. I pushed power at her, but she wasn’t letting me in, and I finally switched to the other cock. I put my legs on top of hers, my hands on her back, and I held her in place as I pressed the barbed dildo into her, and her screams filled the room. But still, her final wall held.

Three minutes later, I reached a screaming orgasm, and backed away from her with a “Don’t move until His Majesty gives you permission.”

He gave me a questioning look as I stood, and he asked, “Verdict?”

I was responsible for the actions of my pride, and I couldn’t lie for her. Besides, I was pretty sure he already knew — he just wanted me to say it.

“She’s still got a wall up, Your Majesty. I don’t know if you breached it, but I haven’t.”

He tilted his head. “Oh, I breached it, but it took a lot, as you can tell.” He sighed. “We really only have three choices, and I’m inclined to let her choose but I’ll put the question to you, as you know her better than I.” His power filled the room, though not as strong as when he held me down. I heard Becca gasping for air, and my eyes grew wide as I realized he was holding her down with his power, without affecting us. I had no idea this was possible. He hadn’t been kidding about the kind of control he could wield.

“I know a lion up north who enjoys slaves, and he doesn’t live under the demesne of The Abbott, so he’s free to keep them as long as he doesn’t draw the attention of the human authorities. I could sell her to him and pay off the debt you owe me for fixing the zoo debacle, with some left over, which I would split with you.”

I heard her whimper, even though she was having a hard time breathing.

“Alternatively, I can take her to Chattanooga and put her in my personal pride, where she’ll become my responsibility.”

“Or we can kill her, so she’s no one’s responsibility,” I finished for him.

His infinitesimal nod, and grim look, confirmed my guess at the third option. I sighed, squatted in front of Becca, and touched her cheek until she looked at me.

“The Amakhosi can be kind, if you show him respect and work with him. I’m sorry you’ve put yourself in this position, but it appears I’ve lost the option of keeping you here. I reserve the right to make the final call, but I’m asking for your input. Which of the three do you choose?”

“Death, Jess. I’ll die before I belong to a man.”

I sighed. “Or a woman, apparently. You had the option of belonging to me, and you refused that, too.”