Richard glanced at Kaela. "My lady? Does he speak for your wishes?"
In so many ways she couldn't explain, though this situation didn't represent even one of them. But she had a role to play. She would encase her heart in ice and it would feel nothing. She would protect him as she protected Fran. Yet normally she could ensure her servant was given pleasure. Garron was Dominant through and through. He would get no pleasure from this.
Don't be certain of that, my lady. This path is a twisting one, with a lot of forks. Come with me for the ride and see. There are different forms of pleasure.
"My lady?"
She offered Richard short nod. "I agree."
"Good. He seems to have a silver tongue that belies that monstrous form."
Richard said it without any contempt, but Kaela still bristled. "Every woman has a beauty and the beast fantasy, my lord," Tara teased him. "I think he's tailor made for it. Garron, join my servants and we'll instruct you from there."
"Yes, ma'am."
He hadn't called her my lady. He wouldn't be able to get away with that at a vampire dinner, but here, where he had the latitude to do it, he took it, giving Kaela alone that honor, because when he said my lady, it meant something different to him, and to her.
She held onto that thought as he rose. Garron lifted her hand to his mouth, pressed his lips there. She locked her fingers over his, brought him down to her for a kiss, and not just any kiss. One full of hunger and need, and some blood-driven anger. She wasn't willing to let go of that. She expected she'd need it to get through this.
Garron's large hands gripped her hips as she bit his lip, drawing blood. She rose on her toes, licked his mouth, curling her hand around his neck. He moved his hold to her waist to keep her steady.
You are my Master.
Damn right I am. Think about how I'm going to remind you of it when we're alone.
Feeling that little internal quiver at the spark in his gaze, she gave him another nip. It would pass as the sensual response of a vampire in charge of her servant, not one who was anticipating all the ways she could serve him later. But truly, at the moment, it didn't really matter to her. She was in a fuck-all-of-them kind of mood, the usual restraint she exercised around other vampires close to snapping. This wasn't supposed to have happened.
Hold fast, my lady. You're used to dealing with the unexpected. But this time you're not dealing with it alone.
That thought, injected with enough force to pull her out of her irritation, was a new one. One she hadn't considered. She'd automatically locked into defense mode, into the Oh-God-something-else-I-have-to-figure-out-by-myself mindset.
You'll have to work on that, my lady. I'll help you, even if I have to beat it into you regularly.
She couldn't afford to lose herself in a vision of being over his lap, taking his punishment, no matter how much the resulting arousal might help her handle this situation. She'd done that for years though, hadn't she? Watching servant entertainments, imagining she was in their place, channeling the arousal to help her act the way she was expected to act.
Maybe the problem was she didn't want to have to think of it that way. She didn't want to think of him in any way other than as her Master. Or herself as anything other than his. But as usual, her ability to do that was going to be stifled. Prohibited. Shut down before she could take it as endlessly as she wanted it to go.
Life isn't fair, my lady. We both know that. Doesn't mean we can't find our way through it.
She felt Garron's grip on her hand, the cold metal of the choker as he slipped it off his wrist, pressed it into her hand. It was as if offering her a rosary to remind her of her faith, the covenant between them. He met her gaze one more time, a searching, penetrating look, before turning to face the challenge that lay before them both.
Seanna and Liam, directed by the thoughts of their vampires, had picked out a spot for their play. Between two nearby pillars, a spanking bench, its red leather and golden wood gleaming, was not in use. Seanna had claimed it, was already leaning against the equipment. Liam sat on it, long legs stretched out and arms crossed over his chest, the two of them looking as patient and well-synchronized as a pair of servants who'd lived together could be.
Kaela wondered if they ever had any confusion about who or what they were. Liam had shown no reaction to Tara stating her occasional preference for a servant with a more dominant side. Maybe he and Seanna accepted that they were a valued tool of their Master or Mistress, but not a vital organ, the way she would consider Garron, if he truly were her third mark servant. For his part, Garron would never accept falling short of her needs. He would surpass them and demand more of her than she could possibly imagine.
She couldn't watch this. She just couldn't. When the waiter came by, she requested a cup of wine, downed it with a quick toss. The waiter gave her a hand stamp, explaining with courteous firmness that there was a two-drink maximum for anyone actively playing.
Tara nudged her, gave her a wink and a secret smile, because vampires couldn't get drunk. "It's fun to play human again sometimes, isn't it?" she whispered, reminding Kaela she was a made vampire, like her. But not like her. No one was like her.
Seanna gestured to Garron playfully, bringing him over to the other two servants.
Watch me, my lady. You look away, I will be very annoyed with you. Tell me if you like what they're doing, if you'd like me to do it to you.
Richard had drawn over a table and three chairs from another area so they could more comfortably watch the scene unfold before them. Kaela took one of the chairs he gallantly pulled out for her and Tara. Since the Region Master seemed to consider what their three servants were doing prep work for the real demonstration, she was having to listen with half an ear to his casual discussion of the Council, recent policy decisions. She wished he'd shut up. In her lap, she wound the choker around her wrist, worried the clasp until it locked. She managed to pinch her flesh, but the bite of pain helped.
Despite her aversion to watching, she found herself unable to disobey Garron, her gaze glued to everything happening. Seanna ran her hands over Garron's chest, scoring him with her scarlet nails. Even if their vampires were conversing, both servants were well trained enough to know every movement was a performance. Liam and Seanna were a striking pair, drawing a crowd. But when Kaela saw other staff members drifting close, she knew those were for Garron. If Garron was as well-known as a Master as he seemed to be at Club Sin, finding out he was about to play a bottom role would be spreading like wildfire. They'd want to see how he handled that.
As Seanna continued to explore Garron's chest, tugging his chest hair in a way that made Kaela want to break every slim brown finger, Liam was adjusting the restraints on the spanking bench. Eyeing Garron's massive frame, he doubled the straps to increase their strength, causing a ripple of appreciative laughter among the staff members, as well as the audience, who were only a beat behind in catching on.
Garron's attention seemed to be entirely on Seanna, though, as if what Liam was doing was of no concern to him. When Seanna bent to get a closer look at one of the scars on his abdomen, run her lips across it, Garron's hand landed on her head, the long braids. He gave one a rough tug and her a feral grin. "Need me to draw you a map, woman? Where your mouth needs to be is about a foot south."
Seanna gave him a return smile that didn't need fangs to be dangerous. She dropped her hand, clasping his cock and balls through the slacks in a squeezing grip. A thirdmark's grip, tight enough to make him grunt. The woman he was taunting was old enough to be his grandmother. Maybe great-grandmother.
Kaela tried not to tense. Seanna's a service sub through and through, but she can be a service top when ordered to do it.
Tell me something I don't know, my lady. No offense, but be quiet. I need to focus.
She blinked at that, but she saw the way his gaze locked with Seanna's as he closed his hand on her wrist. He could have made it a wrestling match, what Kaela would have expected, pitting strengt
h against strength, but instead he caressed the pulse in her wrist, followed it up to one of the braids brushing her forearm. Winding it around his fingers, he held it fast. While there was a light smile fixed on his face, his dark eyes never wavered.
She held that gaze for a time, but at long last, her eyes flickered. Though she didn't look away, her grip eased on his genitals.
"I expect it's going to be easier for you and Liam to have your way with me if I'm undressed," Garron said in a mild tone.
Seanna lifted a brow, but after a pause, she straightened. Putting her hands to his belt, she slid the tongue from the buckle, her long fingers taking advantage of the terrain, the prominent outline of the head of his cock near the top of the zipper. She fondled him as she lowered it, started to remove the slacks and boxers beneath, pushing them down his hips.
He'd picked up on Seanna's essential nature like a hound on a familiar scent. This was as intuitive for him as any other session, and he was sinking into his headspace, picking up every nuance.