Quinton's Crucible (Dominion Trust Book 4)

Quinton's Crucible (Dominion Trust Book 4)

<i><b>As it so often was, my choice was obedience, or pain.</b></i><br /><br />When they held the whip, or the cane, or the crop, my eyes always focused on the hands. The way the fingers caressed the braided leather of a handle, the way a maroon painted nail would catch the light as the cane sliced through the air, my bound body waiting to be reacquainted with its old friend agony.<br /><br />I knew what they wanted, what they expected. But I never cooperated. They’d never make me give it to them.<br /><br />I always chose the pain. No matter how bad it was — and there had been times that it was awful — it still paled next to the bitterness of obedience, of bowing.<br /><br />To her.<br /><br /><i>Never.</i><br /><br />They liked to make me wait. But it wouldn’t work either. I would endure, and I would prevail.<br /><br />The door opened, the subtle zephyr of air across my chilled skin bringing me back to the present. I straightened my back, raising my chin. It was an unspoken expectation that I was to look at the floor in their presence, but I wasn’t about to meekly conform to their insane demands. It would cost me, I knew, but nothing came without cost in this place. I would show them I was no cowering dog.<br /><br />I would endure.<br /><br />The sound of the heels on the smooth concrete always echoed, and as a result I could never tell how many of them had entered, how many would witness my ordeal, participate in it, savor it.<br /><br />Then the heels appeared in the circle of light shining down upon me. So, it was to be only one tormentor this time. I dreaded it when it was only one, for oddly, it always lasted longer, the pain was always worse.<br /><br />But I would endure.<br /><br />“Do you know how long you’ve been in this hole?”<br /><br />My blood ran cold at the sound of the silky smooth voice, the cool confidence, the edge in her slightly clipped cadence. It was her. I was certain of it.<br /><br /><i>Anna.</i><br /><br />I was afraid, but she'd never know it.<br /> <br />I would cry out before the end, a seething mass of marks burning across my skin. As always, I'd try to hold back the tears. I wouldn’t let her see them. Not ever. I would not scream. I would not break.<br /><br />I would endure.<br /><br />My punishment was always merciless, but that wasn’t the worst of it. It was what happened afterward.<br /><br />Those words.<br /><br />She whispered them against my welted skin, as my muscles trembled and spasmed, pain wracking my shoulders, the stripes upon my back like flames licking my flesh. <br /><br />It wasn’t her lash that I feared.<br /> <br />They were the words she spoke to me, before leaving me to my agony, my solitude. Each time, they threatened to undo me — and each time I heard them, they were more seductive.<br /><br />“Surrender to me.”<br /><br />---<br /><br />Finally, the harrowing story of Quinton Trask's ordeal can be told. This novel can be read as a stand-alone, but the experience will be much richer if the reader has previously read <i>Her Troika</i>, Book #2 in the Dominion Trust series.<br /><br /><b>Publisher's Warning:</b> This dark romance is intended for mature audiences. 18 and over only!<br /><br />This novel contains the following themes or activities: pervasive F/m BDSM, capture fantasy, intense and explicit sex, and other acts of unequal power dynamics. If any of these might be offensive to you, please do not buy or read this book.<br /><br /><b>Word Count:</b> 94,532