“Thought I just did that.” Reaching back to unhook the bra, she shimmied out of the panties, leaving herself as naked as the two of them. She twirled the panties on her fingers, dancing back and dropping them in Mason’s lap with a coquettish smile, those lashes fanning her cheeks once again before she came back to the circle. Mason’s amber eyes glittered, a near smile at her playfulness.

  There’d been appreciative whistles and catcal s from the vampires at the maneuver, and now the three of them held center stage as they circled. With the element of surprise gone, he and Gideon restrained themselves to keep the sparring evenly matched, a fair exchange of blows and maneuvers that highlighted the naked, muscular and toned forms executing them. Of course, they couldn’t be blamed for using their superior fighting skil s to exercise quick capture and releases that pressed Jessica between them. They did it several times, until Gideon got a lock across her chest, and Jacob caught her thighs up on his hips, both of their cocks angled for penetration if they chose. He met Gideon’s gaze, a silent communication and flick of his gaze that his brother fol owed, giving him a slight nod of understanding.

  She was panting, but that vulnerable position had her eyes widening once again. Jacob made a soothing murmur in his throat as Gideon gentled his grip, letting her head drop back on his shoulder as they teased her with the feel of their cocks lodged at her two openings. Reaching between them, Gideon col ected slickness from her pussy to lubricate his way into her ass, painting her rim, inserting the tip of a finger. She made a raw, needy noise.

  “Such a sweet, wil ing submissive,” Jacob hummed it against her neck, goading her further.

  “Serving her Master so wel . A wet, hot cunt. Wet and hot at his command. Right, Jess?”

  She nodded. When she closed her eyes, he knew she was in Mason’s mind, that there were likely al manner of equal y graphic images between them, making this as much their moment as Jacob and Gideon’s.

  As he’d planned, just as they had their cocks pressed to her cunt and anus, but not yet penetrating, the thirty minute chime was struck by a staff member. They’d made it through the first round, and Jessica had held her own.

  Jacob let her down careful y. In her gaze, he saw her acknowledge the first milestone, and was fiercely glad they’d given her the starting confidence for it.

  Now if she could just hold on to it. He was amused to see Gideon give her ass a pinch, teasing her a little bit to make her smile. His brother was likely having the same thoughts he was.

  As Jacob guided her to the next group, his arousal made his gait awkward as hel , but the vampires were enjoying it, he was sure. She clutched his hand at her waist, glanced up at him.

  “You can do this,” he murmured. “Remember, your Master is with you, every step. I’m actual y more worried about him making it through this than you.

  You’re way tougher than he is.”

  That won a smal smile, a sparkle in her lovely eyes. When he turned her over to Torrence though, he met the man’s gaze with a hard warning glance.

  Helga might want her servant to test Mason’s, because that was what vampires did, but things could become pretty bad, pretty fast if it went down that road. Fortunately, he saw no malicious mischief in Torrence’s eyes, only appreciation for the wary, aroused female. Hoping the gods would guide Torrence to exercise good sense, Jacob returned to Gideon.

  Debra was the new addition to their group. She was flushed by whatever had been done in the last group, and Jacob was worked up enough he was glad no preliminaries were needed. “I’ve had her mouth on my cock,” he told Gideon. “It was sweet as candy, but that pleasure’s yours this time. I want something else this round. Lift her around the waist.” Debra made a surprised squeak when they lifted her between them. However, when Jacob guided her legs up over his shoulders and let her head and shoulders drop into Gideon’s waiting hands, she understood.

  Her

  heartbeat

  increased.

  The

  intoxicating smel of her cream was close to his face.

  In the downward-sloping position she could take Gideon’s cock in her mouth and did. Gideon let out a grunt as she deep-throated him, her nose pushed into his testicles. Jacob set his mouth to her cunt, drinking deep of the soaking wet arousal she had.

  Like my lady, so wet and sweet . . . the way she writhes and makes those little helpless noises as I eat her out, and her fingernails sink into my shoulders, drawing blood . . .

  His lady’s heat passed through his mind. He knew her wel enough now to know the things that would displease her. Pleasuring another servant at her command, that was acceptable. But she could be very jealous about displays of intimacy, so he’d purposeful y avoided engaging Debra on that level, setting aside their friendship for other, more clothed times. Fortunately, Debra was gaining enough experience she didn’t need the intimacy for reassurance, the way she had when they first met.

  She was already crying out. Gideon’s face was rigid with concentration. By the time the thirty-minute bel rang this time, despite modifying their pace and rhythm, they were al on the edge of climax. Debra was so close, Jacob thought a current of air would set her off.

  “Put ice on her to calm her down,” Lord Brian said, gazing at his flustered servant from one of the deep chairs. His eyes were vibrant with pleasure, and they flared up further when Jacob took the ice a house servant brought him and laid it on her clit. Debra let out a short scream, her hands gripping his shoulder and Gideon’s. They steadied her, keeping her facing her Master so he could watch her reaction.

  And so it went. Jacob had been trained to hold back an inordinate, impossible amount of time, but he got to the same point as Debra and probably al the other servants. It was a mindless, humping, suckling, fucking spiral of energy, a col ective state of subspace where they were doing everything they could to please their vampires, to get that permission to release they al sensed wouldn’t be forthcoming. Lord Wel es’s servant was the first to fal , screaming out her climax as she was pushed to her knees and fucked by Torrence’s cock, while another male servant lay beneath her and tongued her clit and the slick shaft alternately as it thrust in and out.

  To punish her, Lord Wel es put her over his lap and gave her a stinging spanking. Then he placed three bal s of ice in her cunt and ass and kept them there with a chastity harness. Just like a vampire—

  as Jacob wel knew—a third-marked servant wasn’t susceptible to the nerve damage that prolonged contact with ice could cause, so she was laid on the floor at his feet, to writhe and moan against her gag, her body flushed and torn between the pain and pleasure.

  They were al required to watch the punishment before they resumed, which just increased the stakes of the game. For that was what it was. Jacob realized his lady was playing a modified version of musical chairs. They would keep going until each servant reached his or her threshold and could hold back no longer. Then his or her vampire would get the pleasure of deciding on their punishment.

  Torrence was the next to succumb, surprisingly. It amused Jacob that it was Jessica’s smal mouth—

  tight on his monster cock—that set him off. Helga tied him over a spanking bench placed among an artful arrangement of foliage. He was flogged with a barbed cat-o’nine wielded by his Mistress, then she offered his ass to two of the male vampires, Walton and Stewart.

  When they were done, she pushed a thick, vibrating dildo in the raw opening, strapping it in place so Torrence would continue to stay aroused in his helpless position, his kilt hiked up over his back.

  She kept him near her so she could run her hand over his taut ass at wil , enjoy the straining thighs up close as she continued to place wagers with the other vampires as to which three would be the last standing.

  The rotation brought him Jessica again, but the male with him now was Vincent. Jacob had enough brain cel s left to know there was another agenda to play out here. Touching his lady’s mind, seeing her wil in this, he needed nothing further than that to guide him.

  “I expect Jessica would like to extend an apology for impaling you,” he said. “But you owe me something as wel .”

  Jessica was slick with perspiration, her eyes wild and feral, her pussy deep red and wet, a creature of sex and lust, but there was determination there as wel . She was holding, though barely. Glancing at Mason, Jacob suspected he’d continued to employ al sorts of diabolical mind games to push her into climax. Knowing how resourceful the vampire was, and his effect on Jessica, he suspected the vampire was impressed as the rest of them with her stamina and resolve. While wanting to smack her ass for it.

  His lips twisted wryly. Though he respected Jessica’s stubbornness, he did owe Mason something for shooting her in the shoulder.

  “Jessica, bend forward and slide your hands around your calves, holding yourself in a folded position.”

  As she complied, her hair fel forward over her shoulders, the curve of her back and heart-shaped ass a pretty display. He knew she was competitive, but he’d been doing this longer, and he sure as hel knew a woman’s body. Jacob beckoned to a staff person standing by with a tray ful of sexual aids and picked up a paddle. The Bad Girl cutout in the wood made his lips twist, but then he met Vincent’s gaze.

  “You’l use this on her, but when you’re done, you’l kneel, take me in your mouth and make me slick for your ass. Got it?”

  The new head servant fucking the previous one.

  The symbolism was strong, an underscore of the day’s events. Vincent recognized it, his handsome face resigned. But he was severely aroused, too, and Jacob was certain he could push the man into punishment at his Master’s hand. Vincent preferred males, and he couldn’t keep his gaze away from Jacob’s cock. Even though his grip tightened on the handle of the paddle, indicating he was going to relish dishing out a little pain.

  “Don’t go overboard,” Jacob advised, low. “You can make your point without being brutal about it.

  The humiliation is the reward here.”

  Jessica let out a shuddering breath. Jacob had noted no male servant had penetrated her, though Lord Stewart’s female servant had used a thick vibrator that almost sent the girl screaming into oblivion. Servants were a savvy lot. Plus, they received

  direction

  from

  their

  Masters

  and

  Mistresses, who perhaps understood the politics of not pushing the boundaries too much with Mason.

  Not tonight, at least.

  Stepping up so he stood beside Jessica, he slid his hand along her spine, soothing her. Her fingers tightened on her calves. “Easy, girl. It’l hurt, but it wil equal the scales between you.” She’d staked a much more senior servant, and he knew this would ease any future tensions between them.

  His lady was amused at his understanding of the maze between politics and pleasure. Even among al the aroused bodies, her scent was a unique perfume. He ached to go to her, give her release.

  Keep proving it to me, Sir Vagabond. Fuck him like you’d like to fuck me.

  You’ve a much sweeter, softer ass, my lady.

  With the first slap of the paddle, a soft cry split from Jessica’s lips. Jacob was aware of the darkness of Mason’s gaze, knew that he’d perhaps chosen a bad path, because Mason’s dominance was more about deprivation than pain, and Jessica’s beautiful y tattooed back, a tiger peering through a bamboo forest, overlaid a horrid set of long scars put there by her previous master.

  But Vincent showed he was no fool. He made the strikes hurt, satisfying his honor, but he recognized a submissive that responded to a certain level of pain.

  Jessica’s legs trembled, and when he lightly slapped her clit, widening her stance farther, she let out a strangled cry of unmistakable arousal.

  Twenty strikes, where bad girl was overlaid al over the sweet pale curves, and then Jacob cal ed a halt to it.

  He guided Jessica down to her knees, used a gentle hand on the back of her neck to put her forehead to the floor, a resting submissive pose.

  “Put your hands behind your back and open your mouth,” he ordered Vincent. When Vincent complied, he guided his cock into the mouth of Belizar’s servant. He had to close his eyes, because he usual y did when a male had hold of him, so he could imagine his lady’s mouth, though hers and Vincent’s were nothing alike. However, Vincent had undeniable skil s. Jacob put his hand on the close-cropped hair to hold him stil , control his movements so he wouldn’t go off like a rocket.

  Fortunately, getting him slick didn’t take long. He pul ed back after only a few moments, turned Vincent so he was facing Jessica’s folded-over body. “Take your hips off your ankles, Jess,” he said, a quiet order. “Ass in the air.”

  She obeyed, though he saw her thighs tremble a little bit, but more from arousal than trepidation. He knew she trusted him. Vincent was wel lubricated from previous groups, so the cocksucking had been psychological, underscoring the changing of the guard. Jacob drove in deep and hard, taking. He usual y kept his lady in mind when having to fuck a male, because it was always more politics than pleasure for him. But there was a primal pleasure in the taking, the control, and he let Vincent feel that.

  The man grunted, his hands flexing on the floor between Jessica’s ankles. He was hanging on by a thread.

  “Put three of your fingers inside her ass, Vincent.

  Go easy.”

  The male was more than wil ing to do that, though he fumbled some, responding to the stimulation Jacob was inflicting upon him. The man’s ass was contracting hard on him and Jacob knew he was close.

  Fortunately, Jessica was also stil wel lubricated from Gideon’s earlier application of oil, so Vincent’s fingers slid in easy. When she made that low cry again, Jacob drove her onward with an order.

  “Squeeze down on him with every thrust, Jess. Make him feel you.”

  The contraction of the anal muscles affected the clit, made it spasm that much more quickly. As she moved to obey, he kept encouraging her, commanding her. “Squeeze him. Squeeze him hard.

  Every thrust. Don’t miss a single one. It’s your Master’s cock. Milk him dry.”

  Vincent let out his own moan as Jacob hit the spot he knew would be the servant’s downfal . Hel fire, he had an ass tight as a virgin girl. Belizar was hung like a horse. Vincent probably felt split open when his Master fucked him. “Getting close there, aren’t you, Vincent?”

  The male cursed him, low, and Jacob bared his teeth in a feral grin. Jessica’s fingers scrabbled across the floor, and Jacob recognized the tiny, needy cries, growing in volume. The words,

  “Please . . . Master . . .”

  Mason’s eyes were fierce amber, his mouth set into a line. He wanted to punish her, because that was what would please him. Jessica was smart enough to already know it, but she also knew her begging would please him as wel .

  “Squeeze him,” Jacob barked.

  Jessica was hurled over that cliff, her admirable attempt to hold back lost in the face of Jacob’s expertise and her own lack of experience. She came with a hard scream, her body bucking. Vincent grabbed at his own cock to massage himself furiously, directing the stream of semen toward the floor, away from Jessica. As he twisted away from the girl, Jacob pul ed out of him, dropped to one knee and gave Jessica a ful completion. His hand closed over her clit, fingers massaging the rippling bud of skin, two other fingers dipping inside of her cunt to thrust, his thumb pressing on her anus. She shrieked, her cream gushing over his hand, a deep pleasure as he slid his other arm under her hips to give her some balance.

  He helped her fold al the way to the floor, writhing and convulsing. Vincent was breathing hard, stil on both knees next to them. It took both of them a few minutes to wind down, to finish out the climax. A few more to col ect their wits again, somewhat. But when they did, Jacob brushed his knuckles over Vincent’s shoulder, giving him a nod and glance to show they were square. In return, he received a deferential gesture, devoid of malice. Belizar’s servant also touched

  Jessica

  on

  the

  hip,

  a

  similar

  communication.

  Good. He was proud of himself for keeping the politics in play despite the fact his cock felt like a fucking aluminum basebal bat. With one word, his lady could probably make him spew al over himself.

  You never cease to be a charmer, Sir Vagabond.

  His lips twisting, he lifted Jessica in his arms. She was stil shuddering, her skin so sensitive that even his carrying touch had her making soft cries and writhing.

  He brought her to Mason, keeping his eyes down as he settled her between her Master’s feet, her naked back braced against the male vampire’s leg.

  Mason slid his fingers into her hair, tipped back her head so she had to look into his face. She’d cried during her climax, and her mouth was parted and moist. It had been difficult, but she’d done it. That triumph was in her eyes, as wel as the heartache and past pain that had made it so important to her.

  “You disobeyed me, Jessica.”

  When she reached up with a shaking hand, he closed his hand over her wrist. She touched him anyway, eyes adoring. “Yes, Master. Please forgive me. P-punish me as you see fit, please.”

  “Later, habiba.” His tone softened, his eyes reflecting some of the same pain and suffering, mixed with pride and love. He gave her a kiss then, his mouth a brief tease on hers. “When we are alone, I wil torment you in ways that make this seem like child’s play.”

  Jacob returned to his position to find only three of them were stil standing. Somewhat. Him, Gideon and—surprisingly—Debra. The servants who’d lost were variously engaged now, each the center of one or more vampires’ attentions, the after-dinner play turned into a sexual bacchanalia. It made the heat in the room even closer, made it difficult for Jacob to look at anything but his lady. Her lips were parted, eyes that glowing green color like a cat hunting in the moonlight. But she ignored him, making him harder.

  “You may return to your Master,” she told Debra, then glanced at Gideon, a faint smile playing on her tempting lips. “And to your Mistress. Wel done.” Gideon dropped to his knees next to Anwyn, sitting in a nearby chair. As she slid a hand around his neck, a Mistress’s fierce demand was in her gaze. Though her voice was soft, Jacob heard her clearly enough. “Daegan says he wants you to pleasure my pussy, make me come. When we go back to the room, he wil fuck you and final y—if you’ve pleased me—he’l let you come.” Gideon put his hands on either arm of the chair, caging her as he captured her mouth in a demanding kiss that showed her al he was feeling.