Free The Gate (Dark Path Series) by KT Grant Page B

to his bedroom. He pushed me onto the bed, cuffed my arms and legs, and then starting beating me with a cane until he came all over me. I told him to stop, but he wouldn’t. He used his hands and mouth until I begged him for more. Instead of sex, he stuffed me in both ends—”
    “Jesus, why didn’t you use your safe word?” He pulled her in for a hug.
    Her tears splashed the side of his throat. “I didn’t want to use my safe word. I enjoyed every degrading minute of it! Right before he used the gag ball on me, he asked if I had anything to say. I told him no. That was my final out. He knew it, but even though I didn’t say it, he still gagged me. Then he used his palm instead of the cane, thrashing my ass and back where I already had welts. I was stuffed beyond belief and couldn’t come. I never found my release, but he had a grand old time climaxing and marking my body with his cum. When he finished, he untied me, took those instruments of torture away, and ran a bath for me. He washed me then put me to bed but didn’t join me. He said it’s his way of showing me how much he missed me. I was his, and no matter how many times I leave him, I’ll always come back to him. He left me unsatisfied, aching from my head to my toes as well as in my heart.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Why am I so fucked up?”
    Her sobs tore at his heart, but there was nothing he could do. Catherine was well aware what she’d gotten involved with.
    “I warned you not to go through with the collaring ceremony, but you wouldn’t listen.” Nudging her chin, he wiped away her tears. “It’s as much a binding contract as a marriage from centuries ago.”
    “When the husband had complete ownership of his wife and could do whatever he wanted to her?” She sighed. “I’m fucked. Shit, I’ve been fucked up since I came out of the womb. Even when I was with Cameron, he would—” Biting her lip, she shook her head.
    “What you two had is not even in the same category as what you have with Raymond. You can tell Raymond no and set up boundaries. Even though he might try to force your hand, you can tell him to stop, with one word. Your safe word. You could never do that with Cameron.” Although his brother was dead, he could kill him all over again for what he put Catherine through.
    “I just don’t know anymore. They say the cycle of abuse is never ending. Maybe that’s why I allow Raymond complete control over me.”
    “There’s one final way to end things with him. You find a new master. If you want, I can become yours, in name only, if it will help free yourself from him.”
    “I can’t do that to you. One day, you’ll want the same type of relationship Raymond and I have. You’ll find that woman you love who’s willing to sacrifice herself for your happiness, and you for hers.” Standing, she slapped his shoulder. “Plus, you’re one kinky, fucked-up motherfucker of the first order. Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass.” Bending over, she touched her toes, groaning. “If it comes down to it, I can always skip town, disappear to parts unknown.”
    He snorted. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
    She lifted her face to the sky. The rain started coming down in earnest. “I’m going to take a walk. Do you mind?”
    Rising, he moved under the tree next to the bench. She might not mind getting wet, but he did. “Take the time you need, but don’t expect me to carry you to the car if you get ill because of the nasty weather.”
    “You’re one big ball of confusion, you know that? You have no problem getting naked and going to town on women, sometimes even with their boyfriends or husbands who come to The Gate looking for some sort of relief or salvation. Or walking on floors where your shoes stick because of all the cum that’s been spilled over the years, but you can’t bear a little rain?”
    The disappointment on her face amused him, but he kept quiet.
    “You’re zoning me out, aren’t you?” She