Tain had trouble getting to her feet, and once she was standing she had trouble walking. The ache in her bottom flared high with every step and motion, and the heat inside her made her want to moan. But none of that was allowed to keep her from doing the chores assigned by her owner, a man who seemed to be watching her every move. And washing the bowl proved to be the easy part. Once she put the bowl aside and headed into the trees for the firewood, she found out just how bad it could get.

A small armful of wood had already been collected when Tain moved behind a tree to gather what was on the ground. As soon as sight of Killen and the camp was cut off, her mind automatically went to the possibility of escape. It would be so easy to slip off into the deeper woods and head for the base, keeping to the wilderness the entire distance. She knew how to stay out of sight, how to feed herself, how to make sure no one had the least idea she was around…

But taking the first step proved to be impossible. She’d been given very strict orders about staying with Killen, and even though she fought with all her strength she couldn’t break the hold those orders had on her. It was maddening, infuriating—but there was nothing she could do about it. She’d been tied hand and foot without a single length of leather touching her.

By the time she had all the wood she could carry, Tain was completely miserable. Her bottom ached and throbbed, the need threatened to send her screaming to her knees, and she felt so hemmed in that the emotion nearly reached the level of phobia. She hobbled back to the campsite and put the wood she’d gathered on the ground near where the fire had been, deliberately not looking around at anything. She hated being so tied down, and the hatred made her uninterested in everything but itself.

“That’s a good start,” Killen said from where he lounged on the ground, callously intruding on Tain’s need to brood in silence. “We’ll need more wood than what you have there, but before you go back out for it there’s something I have to do. Come over here and kneel down.”

Tain would have hesitated quite a while if she’d been able, but only a short hesitation was possible before she just had to obey.

“Good,” Killen said when she was on her knees, and he seemed to be pretending that she’d obeyed him enthusiastically. “You’ll need some help, and the slavers were kind enough to make sure I could give it to you. No, don’t worry, you’re not about to be spanked again.” Tain had stiffened and almost struggled when Killen took her across his lap again, and she wasn’t entirely sure that she could believe what he said. It wasn’t all that long since the last time she was bottom up across his lap, and the experience was one that would be remembered for quite a while. Then she gasped as she felt his hands parting her thighs, and gasped a second time, louder, when two of his fingers put something inside her.

“This cream is designed to soothe your inner parts and make it easier for you to do your duty toward your master,” Killen said as he moved his fingers in a way that made Tain moan. “I know the treatment is hard on you right now, but we can’t do anything about rewarding you for acting properly until you’re in a condition to appreciate that reward. Is the soreness being eased?”

With speaking completely beyond Tain, all she could do was nod spasmodically. She hadn’t really been aware of the soreness inside her, not with everything else she’d been made to feel, but she was aware of the way the cream had first eased and then banished the soreness.

“Okay, all done,” Killen said, no longer using one hand on her thigh to hold her still. “You can get up now and go back to gathering wood. Your body needs time to absorb that cream completely, and there’s no sense in your not doing something constructive while we’re waiting.”

While we’re waiting, Tain thought bitterly as she found that getting up was almost as hard this second time. Her body was now screaming for relief, and the thought of how long she still had to wait made Tain want to blubber or tear her hair. She was almost to the point of being willing to beg, and it wasn’t just the knowledge that she’d be ignored that stopped her. If she ever begged Killen for anything she really would want to die…

Tain fought not to squirm as she walked back into the woods, and the fact that she probably failed miserably wasn’t one she cared to consider. There were now two compact tents in the small clearing the campsite had been erected in, with a few feet distance between them. The second tent reminded Tain that Killen had said his friend Tandro would be arriving, and the thought that the native would get here in time to see her being humiliated was a devastating one. Not to mention that Tandro would have Ennie with him…

The picture in Tain’s mind of her moaning under Killen while Ennie laughed in ridicule was so vivid that she didn’t realize she had all the wood she could carry until she dropped the latest branch she tried to add to the rest. The realization that she’d completed her chore sent her directly back to the campsite, her body refusing to listen to the reluctance in her mind.

Tain nearly held her breath until she saw that Killen was still alone, but that sight didn’t bring the relief it should have. There was no telling when the other man would arrive, but it suddenly came to her that using one of the tents ought to take care of the problem. For that reason Tain hurried to put the second load of wood with the first, but before she could say anything Killen had his own say.

“And now it’s time to give you your reward,” Killen told her with a grin, and his rising to his feet showed Tain that he’d moved the blanket and had been sitting on it. “No, don’t say anything right now. I’ve been looking forward to your getting back and I don’t want the mood spoiled.”

The mood spoiled. Tain’s mood was one of frustration that made her want to scream, most especially when Killen came close to lift her into his arms. The heat inside her flamed higher at the touch of his hands and body, but her mind’s reluctance also grew as he carried her to the blanket, went to one knee, then put her down on the cloth.

“Just to make you feel less alone, I was given a cream for my own use,” Killen murmured as he put himself beside her on the blanket. “Now we’re ready to make beautiful music together instead of whimpering piteously. Aren’t you glad?”

Tain tried to shake her head vigorously, but Killen held her head still with a fistful of hair and began to kiss her. At the same time his free hand caressed her wherever it could reach, increasing her need so badly that Tain thought she would die. She writhed in his grip and made sounds of desperation, and after an eternity his lips left hers long enough for him to remove his loin covering.

One glance showed Tain that Killen was just as ready as she was in spite of the way she had to use her feet to keep her tender bottom off the blanket. She watched him move between her knees, taking her thighs in his hands, and then he was presenting his rampant demand to her own desire. If she could have she would have screamed for him to hurry—and then she was suddenly in a lot less of a hurry.

“Oh, yes, how deliciously tight you are now,” Killen exulted while Tain choked over the impression that he was pushing a tree trunk inside her. “We’re going to have much more pleasure this time, we certainly are.”

Tain would have wanted to show her disagreement with that opinion, but she was much too busy thinking about how long it would take for her to break…

Tain’s mind was filled with pure desperation by the time Killen was completely inside her. He felt so outrageously big that she was sure she couldn’t hold all of him, her body lying totally motionless due to the conviction. But once he had entered her fully, the touch of his body to her tender bottom made her jump and squirm in a way that also widened her eyes.