Page 15 of Vienna Betrayal

Chapter 3

Alena wondered if this was the point a normal person would have started panicking and freaking.

Alexander finished buckling the padded suspension cuff around her wrist, then picked up a twenty-centimeter length of chain with spring hooks on either end.

She held out her arms, offering her cuffed wrists to him. With calm efficiency he hooked the chain to the D rings.

“Do you have any shoulder, elbow, or wrist injuries?” he asked.

“No, Sir.”

Alexander nodded, then raised her linked hands above her head. Alena focused on her breathing as he hooked the short chain over a large hook dangling over her head.

When he stepped back, an intense feeling of vulnerability washed over her, as if she was standing naked in a room full of strangers.

The feeling of being exposed and helpless had nothing to do with what she was and wasn’t wearing, and everything to do with the fact that she was now trapped in bondage.

Whatever the feeling, physically she still wore the lace corset-bra, stockings, and panties. Though her left breast was on display, and that nipple was hard, her areola ruched tight.

Alexander went to a small winch and turned the handle, taking up slack in the rope the hook was attached to.

A normal person probably would have freaked out long before this.

“Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be normal?” she asked.

He looked…befuddled by the question. It was a cute expression on him.

Cute wasn’t a descriptor she would normally have associated with him, but in this case, it fit.

When he shook his head, she smiled. “No, I suppose neither of us, or anyone in this room, is normal.”

The event was in full swing, and nearly every play space in the dungeon was occupied. Most scenes had small audiences.

She’d tried gently suggesting that they find a private room, but Alexander had merely looked at her, raised one brow, and started weaving through the crowd.

He’d found them a spot at the back of the room where two A-frames supported a crossbar three meters off the ground. A freestanding suspension structure.

During his set up she’d tried several times to start a conversation, but he’d never replied verbally, instead nodding or shaking his head. He was back to being the quiet man, and it was as if the conversation in the hall hadn’t happened.

He continued winching, raising her hands until they were stretched over her head, her upper arms tight against her ears. Alena rose onto her toes, which put some slack in the chain. After a moment of that she dropped back onto her heels.

“Not long,” he murmured as he secured the winch.

She tipped her head back so her own arms weren’t muffling her hearing. If she hadn’t been looking at him, reading his lips, she wouldn’t have known he’d spoken.

Alexander crouched down and started sorting through his kit—a large leather case, similar to what she’d seen several other Doms carrying. The cuffs he’d put on her and the small chain linking them had both come out of the bag.

“I can’t decide if I’m terrified of, or fascinated by, your kit.”

Alexander snorted and swiveled on the balls of his feet, still crouching, to look at her.

He considered her for a moment, then said, “Fascinated.”

Progress! He was talking again.

“You’re not wrong,” she said mournfully.

“Of course I’m not.” The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “I’m the Dom.”

---