Dom Wars Round Two (2 page)

The old pickup bouncing
me and Lucian up the mountain had seen better days forty years ago. The lanky old driver cackled with laughter every time he nearly tossed us from the truck. The clutch groaned and I involuntarily braced myself, ready to bail the instant it showed signs of tumbling back down the trail. Couldn't chew my thumbnail because I needed both hands to hold on.

Watching the scenery crawl past didn
't help, either. The so-called trail was really just a rutted out slash that zig-zagged through the heavy forest of the lower slope of the mountain. Every jolt across a stump or rock made me grateful for the sturdy cargo jeans and hiking boots I'd been given to wear. There'd been nothing in my bag remotely suitable for this expedition, that's for sure.

The truck suddenly tilted at a dangerous angle, throwing me hard against Lucian
's side before I could brace myself. With an eerie crunching growl, the truck managed to right itself. Lucky me, I didn't get thrown into the driver's lap that time. I'd rather not have his bony knee jammed up my butt with his raucous laughter again, thank you.

The driver
leaned his half bald head forward for the fifth time to speak around me to direct his words at Lucian, and I certainly didn't object. "You'll be five hundred feet up but don't worry," he yelled, like he was hard of hearing. "You'll be tied and there are safety nets." Burst of laughter. "So you won't
die.
"

If we made it there alive
. Jesus, I wished he would just drive, instead of constantly fiddling with the radio, or tapping a greasy hand on his stained jeans in time to whatever fragment of a song he managed to pick up. I braced one hand on the dashboard and dug my nails into Lucian's palm. He'd taken my hand a few minutes into the ride and I'd let him.

God, what was wrong with me
? Why was I so nervous around him? Like the more intimate we were, the more I needed space. Cold feet? He wasn't proposing, he was just… being sweet. Then there was the whole sex stuff stuff. I mean we
did
things. For this
game.
For
money.
It just seemed
weird,
a BDSM fly-by-night carnival. I wanted to trust him, but it was too much like falling for the cute carny working one of the rides!

We finally arrived to the destination
, a broad grassy terrace carved into the side of the mountain. A black helicopter crouched at the edge of the flat area like a dragonfly ready to leap into space. A hundred yards away, a striped lawn canopy had been erected, and half a dozen people waited under its shelter.

Several minutes later,
we approached the leggy Lucian-loving blonde, grinning from ear to diamond-studded ear. "Congratulations Lucian, on your victory earlier. That means you get to play the Dom role in this challenge. You will take control the way you're so good at doing, and Tara will submit to your direction the way she's…" eruption of glamorous laughter, ha ha ha haaa, so fucking funny. Dumb bitch. "And Tara will prove us all wrong and show us that she
can
submit to Sir Lucian Bane."

"
My pleasure." I nodded and shook
Sir
Lucian's hand from mine to tighten my pony-tail.

"
Well, as you know, you get a chance to hitch a ride to the top." Blinding smile. "All you guys have to do is answer one question correctly about each other. The first priority in the D/s life is to know your partner inside and out." She lifted one hand in a casual gesture and a diminutive man wearing a black business suit placed an envelope on her upturned palm. "Open it, open it," she muttered, handing it back, keeping her thousand-watt smile carefully in place while she waited. Glancing at the card, she aimed sparkling green eyes at Lucian. "Doms first."

My lids fluttered as I fought to keep my eyes from
rolling.

"
We asked Tara some questions on the application and one of them was, 'What part of a man's body do you like the most?'" She raised her brows at Lucian who now regarded me with contemplative brows. Great. I'd lied and said his butt, thinking it would gain me BDSM points. 

"
I'd have to say…she's definitely an ass girl."

My brows shot up in shock.
"Oh my God, you got it!"

"
Yes he did, now let's see if Tara knows you as well as you know her."

By her nauseating tone, she was so sure I didn
't. I hated it, but she was likely right. "Is it the same question?" If it was, I was sure I knew the answer to that.

"
Yes. Same question."

"
Definitely her butt."

My heart sank at her stupid frown.
"Awwww, no. He said all of her."

"
What? That's not an answer." I looked at him. "What kind of answer is that? How am I supposed to guess that?"

"
I didn't answer it thinking you'd have to guess, Tara."

I rolled my eyes.
"So we lose? He has to carry me?"

"
I'm afraid so, sweetie." With a sugary bullshit smile, she pointed to the rope ladder spanning a twenty-foot cliff we would have to get up before the trail to the top even started. "Hope you've eaten your Wheaties, Lucian. You have quite the burden to bear."

What was that supposed to mean?
My gaze landed on her ample cleavage. Before I could say something about him not having to carry a milk cow around, Lucian grabbed my hand.

The way he squeezed my fingers said he knew exactly what I
was about to say. He lifted my hand to his lips to drop a soft kiss on my knuckles. "She's light as a feather."

The compliment brought joy and I let my smile rip.
"Aww baby, you're too sweet." I spanked his butt then held his shoulders and hopped up, wrapping my legs around his waist. He caught me and held my butt with his hands, making me blush.

"
Perfect, love." His fingers pressed into my ass and he tossed a sexy look over his shoulder that made my stomach flip.

"
I don't get it. How do we know who wins this? I mean what's the competition to know who wins the right to Dom in the… next phase?"

Ol
' Girl gave that giggle, the one that spelled how dense I was. "If you manage to collect the ten flags at the top, you win the right to Dom next."

"
Next as in…"

"
As in the bedroom. For the night challenge." She bounced her perfectly sculpted brows.

Shit I needed to win that. I did not need
to have Lucian Dom me. God help me sweet Jesus. I was losing my soul in this goddamn game. My soul and my mind. And my body. He was slowly taking it all and making me into something… something entirely different.

"
Ready, love?"

"
Ready."

****

"Be careful!" Tara cried.

I stopped
climbing and sighed. "Love? Yell in my ear one more time and I'll drop you off of this mountain."

"
Sorry, I'm trying to help."

"
Then quit strangling me."

Two more steps and she blasted my ear with,
"Are you tired? Just stop for a second and rest."

"
We're being timed, love. Bad enough we're likely the only two who didn't get the questions right."

"
Well it's not my fault! Her whole
body
? Who says that?"

"
I do." A stray branch dug into my kneecap, nearly ending the race and our lives.

"
I see that," Tara went on, oblivious. "And I lied about my answer, for your information."

Good grief.
"No you didn't."

She choked on
her annoyance. "Yes. I did. I don't care about a man's butt."

"
Really."

"
Really."

"
So what is the real answer?" I paused, catching my breath and waiting.

"
I'm not telling."

She
dug her pointy heels into my upper thighs for emphasis. "Stop screeching in my ear like a fucking banshee." I started climbing again. "I think I know exactly what body part you like. You like a big thick cock."

"
Oh yes, yes, I love that, sure I do."

"
Say it. Cock."

"
No!" More heel jabbing.

I laughed.
"You're such a tender-minded princess. I can't wait to punish you for being bad today."

"
What? Bad! Because I got the answer wrong?"

I laughed.
"No, because you're disrespectful, and you're very, very bad at submitting. And it's time I help you with that."

W
ords choked up in her throat but she finally got them out. "Not if I win."

My cock throbbed with the anticipation.
"Right." I continued to climb until searing pain seized my calf and nearly brought me down. "Jesus Christ!"

"
What?" She squirmed in the carrying harness they'd strapped to my back.

"
Cramp." I gritted my teeth and shifted, forcing my calf muscle to stretch slow and steady.

"
Oh no! Where?" She moved again, leaning to my bad side nearly taking us down, while her arms tightened around my neck.

"
Stop choking me!" I loosened her grip so I could breathe.

"
Oh! Sorry. You're almost there, you only have like…"

"
I can see, love. Fuck. Ugh." I concentrated on pulling the spasm out of my calf muscle. All Tara's wiggling about had shifted the carrying harness, causing a shoulder strap to cut into my collar bone.

"
Guess your Wheaties are running out?"

"
Yes, and your feathers are weighing a ton." I moved on as she gave a little snorting laugh that made me smile, and somehow lightened the load.

We finally made it to the top where the team of experts and
Tara's favorite blonde waited. While they strapped us into climbing gear and anchored us to safety lines, I stared at the video monitor a technician was using to guide what looked like a radio-controlled helicopter with a camera attached. He moved the helicopter below the edge of the cliff, and the monitor filled with a view of crumbling rock. Slowly, a metal pole appeared in the frame, embedded in the stone. The camera moved out to reveal a small black flag fluttering madly from a hook at the end. For a split second, the flag stilled, just long enough for me to make out the words
DOM Wars
in white print.

The blonde took up a position well back from the edge of the cliff, a second tech standing opposite her with a small video camera.
"Good afternoon, DOM Wars viewers! Today's challenge is in a slightly different format than you're accustomed to, in part because it's being streamed to you live. Thus far, both our contestants, and you, have been given very little information about the reasons behind the challenges. Today, that changes." She paused for the tech to make some adjustments. "Let's check in with Lucian and Tara as they prepare to face the newest phase in DOM Wars."

Her customary stilettos had been replaced by a pair of
custom western boots, while painted-on jeans and a fitted leather vest took over for the usual business attire. With the cameraman following, she strode the few feet to where Tara and I were finishing up.

"
Ready for the details?"

No, but we nodded anyway.

"Tara, you are going to
dangle
off the edge of that cliff, while you
trust
Lucian to hold you. Ten flags are already there, some more difficult to reach than others. You will retrieve as many as you can. If you get them all, you win the right to Dom. But don't worry, each flag you get is worth points, so each one counts for something even if you don't win the round. Any flags you drop before you're hauled back up here won't count. Questions?"

Tara nodded, and I really wanted to shake her, but it was too late to warn her not to ask anything.
"What does this have to do with being a Dom?"

The announcer
's brow lifted a little. "In the coming weeks, both you and our viewers will grow to deeper understanding. For now, suffice to say, any relationship, whether vanilla, D/s, platonic friendship, coworkers, or whatever, needs trust to be successful. The true Dom is an expert at both instilling trust in others, and in assessing whether others are worthy of trust. Our challenges are designed to show that process from both points of view."

To her credit, Tara listened carefully, obviously searching for some advantage, or even just rhyme or reason in the explanation.

"Okay, let's do this." The lady stepped back. "Good luck to you both."