Page 43 of A Mistake of Identity
“It reminds you you’re alive,” Gabriel’s voice was soft as his fingers carded through Ellis’ hair before cupping his face. The touch was grounding, real. “Pain can anchor you when everything else feels disconnected. Is that what you need?”
Relief flooded through him at being understood. Ellis collapsed against Gabriel’s chest, breathing in his familiar scent. “Yes,” he shuddered out the word.
“Come then.” Gabriel shifted him gently from his lap and stood, taking his hand. “Let’s go to the bedroom.”
The bedroom door clicked, then locked, behind them. Gabriel’s chest pressed against his back, one arm wrapping around Ellis’ waist while the other snaked up to his throat.
“I won’t go easy on you.” Gabriel’s breath was warm against his ear. “If you truly need me to stop, if you can take no more, say ‘red.’”
Ellis’ breath caught. The stoplight system. Safe. Professional. Familiar ground. Every BDSM brothel used it. But this wasn’t a transaction. Gabriel was offering him a real choice, a way out if he needed it. Something tight loosened in his chest.
Gabriel’s fingers tightened on his throat. His lips found Ellis’ neck, sucking hard enough to mark. To claim. Then he released him, moving to lean against one of the bedposts with casual grace.
“Strip.”
Ellis drew in a steadying breath. His fingers trembled slightly on his buttons. Gabriel’s eyes tracked each piece of clothing that fell to the floor, his expression hungry. Predatory.
When Ellis stood naked before him, Gabriel made that imperious two-fingered gesture that sent warmth blooming in Ellis’ chest. Stupid, to be so fond of such a small thing.
He crossed to Gabriel, who guided him down with a hand between his shoulder blades until his chest rested on the cool sheets. Ellis shifted his legs wider, offering himself up to Gabriel’s gaze. Fingers carded through his hair.
“Good boy.”
The praise settled warm in his chest. He tracked Gabriel’s footsteps around the bed, heard a drawer open. When he glanced back, his breath caught at the size of the plug in Gabriel’s hand, larger than any they’d used before. A shiver of anticipation raced down his spine.
Slick fingers breached him, first one, then two, as Gabriel worked him open. Soon, the fingers withdrew, replaced by something impossibly large and blunt pressing against him.
Ellis gasped, shaking his head against the sheets. “Too much, it’s too-”
“You can take it.” Gabriel’s voice brooked no argument. “Take it for me, little bird.”
Ellis tried to relax, to bear down against the relentless pressure. The plug stretched him wider, wider, until he thought he might split apart. When the widest part finally breached him, he let out a broken sound, his ring clamping tight around the base as it settled deep inside.
“Mon précieux oiseau.” Gabriel’s hand stroked up his spine. “Such a good boy for me.”
Cool air hit his damp skin as Gabriel guided him upright. The movement shifted the plug inside him, pressing mercilessly against his prostate. His legs trembled. The soft leather around his wrists barely registered until Gabriel was already securing them to the metal loop above the bedpost.
Ellis thought them decorative, but now realized they had a purpose.
Gabriel’s foot knocked his ankles further apart. Ellis shivered, exposed and vulnerable, anticipation coiling tight in his belly. Ellis’ skin heated as he shifted restlessly, his cock hard and dripping. Each small movement caused the plug to shift inside him, drawing desperate little sounds from his throat. His body craved friction, urging him to rut shamelessly against the post, but he resisted. Gabriel wouldn’t like that.
Gabriel’s footsteps returned. Ellis glanced over his shoulder, his breath catching at the sight of the whip. He recognized the deceptively simple design: a handle connected to a tightly rolled leather thong that tapered to a wickedly sharp point. The kind of toy that could deliver anything from a teasing sting to searing pain.
“You know this toy?” Gabriel asked.
“A dragon tail,” Ellis confirmed, voice steady despite his racing heart.
Gabriel’s fingers caught his chin. “Don’t worry, little bird. This is only the beginning.” Something in his tone made Ellis shiver.
Ellis nodded, trusting him completely.
Behind him, Gabriel fiddled with the base of the plug. Looking back, Ellis saw him attaching some kind of cord. Before he could ask, Gabriel held up a small remote.
The first pulse caught him completely off guard. “Fuck!” The sensation was unlike anything he’d experienced—waves of energy coursing through his most intimate muscles, making them contract and release in a rhythm he couldn’t fight. Each surge felt like being fucked from the inside, the current stimulating nerves he didn’t know he had. His cock jerked, leaking steadily now as another wave pulsed through him.
“Oh god,” he gasped, fingers curling around the restraints as his legs trembled. He could feel every millimeter of the plug now, the electricity making his muscles clench and release around it in waves that had him seeing stars.
The rhythmic pulses had Ellis so lost in sensation that the sharp sting across his shoulder caught him completely off guard. He jerked against the restraints, a gasp torn from his throat. The dragon tail’s bite was precise, each strike leaving fire in its wake as Gabriel worked methodically across his back.
