Free The Raven Chronicles Book 1 by Nicole Dixon

Chapter 1
    Raven
    “Get your head down and stay down!” Raven commanded.
    Susan pushed her head deep into the pillow, kneeling on the bed, leaving her ass in the air.
    Raven swung the riding crop in a high reaching arc downward and it stuck Susan’s white flesh with a pop!
    Susan screamed. She squeezed the sheets in her fists and took shallow breaths through her wet, pursed lips, mitigating the intense pain. This was her eighth lash; she had two more coming.
    “It will be a while before you disobey me again, right, slut?”
    “Yes, Mistress Raven.”
    The riding crop whipped through the air in another arc and made contact with Susan’s ass.
    Susan emitted a guttural groan of pain before babbling incoherently.
    Raven allowed Susan to regain her composure. The pain would be more terrible that way. Pain had a way of blurring together as it passed the threshold of misery. Each blow must be a distinct experience if the pain was to hit its peak.
    Raven rubbed the riding crop on Susan’s ass. Bright red welts crisscrossed the soft white skin of her bony ass.
    “One more,” Raven said.
    “Yes, Mistress Raven.”
    Smack!
    The ordeal was over. Susan fell forward onto the satin sheets, her ass searing with hot pain, her eyes and pussy wet. She took quick, shallow breaths and looked around the dark room. Objects stacked on tables, curtains drawn shut over the windows and doors, two small lamps giving the room a dim yellow glow. Mistress Raven, straight black hair and leather corset, putting her riding crop back in the closet. Her cold black eyes turned to find Susan looking at her.
    “Next time it will be the cane,” Raven said.
    Susan nodded.
    Susan walked out of the apartment into the cold night. She walked several blocks to the bus stop and took the bus to her house and her loveless marriage in the suburbs.
    Work at the university was not as glamorous as Dr. Susan McCandless had hoped. She had earned her doctorate in economics by the age of twenty-five. Married by the age of thirty, had kids by thirty-three. She sat in her small campus office with the frosted glass window, perfumed with rotting books and leather, watching the young students walk back and forth to their next classes. She’d had such high hopes for her career, for her life. At forty it all seemed so pointless. She loved her twins, two little girls that made her life worth living, but she still had needs as an adult.
    A knock came at the door.
    “Come in,” Susan said.
    “Dr. McCandless, you called me?”
    It was Becki. A beautiful young coed, a freshman, in her Intro to Economics class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. “Yes, come in, Becki. Have a seat.” Susan motioned to the tiny chair in her office, with a thick wooden frame and cracked green leather padding. Becki sat.
    Becki had distinctive features, with full, pouty lips and large almond-shaped brown eyes that looked innocently at the professor. Her brunette hair fell in curls around her shoulders. Her tan legs, taut with youth, crossed deliciously, with one sandal casually dangling from her toe.
    “Your grade in Econ is dropping, Becki. I wanted to speak with you and see if there was a problem.”
    Becki appeared flustered. “I know, Dr. McCandless. I’ve been swamped with homework in my other classes, plus my job has me working extra hours. I don’t take any of my classes lightly. I had all As in high school.”
    Susan knew this. She had looked up Becki’s transcript before requesting this meeting. She knew that Becki would do anything to maintain her perfect record at college, too. “I know you are a good student. That’s why I wanted to talk with you before final grades were released. You don’t want a D on your transcript.”
    “Oh…a D—how could it be a D?”
    “I’m afraid so. That grade will require you to retake the class for credit.”
    “Can I raise it to an B by the end of the semester?”
    “There’s not enough time. Maybe a C if you ace the final