The blond slave opens the doors on a formal dining room and bows her head, curtseying as one by one, the men walk through.
As the colonel passes, Texas grips his shoulder, his fat sausage fingers digging into the bald man’s flesh. “Colonel, you know our rules here. Unless you are invited to do so, you keep your goddamn hands off another Master’s slave, or I’ll be forced to revoke your membership to The Ranch.”
“Of course. I meant no offence. My apologies.”
Warm fingers skim the collar around my neck. I flinch. “Relax, Pet. I’m the only one who gets to touch you tonight.”
The breath leaves my lungs in a rush. I can handle that. I know his touch. I trust it, whether to bring pain or pleasure. It is sure, certain, known. He will push me, of course, but he won’t set tasks for me that he knows I can’t handle. So I nod, though it takes everything in me to do so. Sir’s fingertips caress my neck, the softest of touches, and I lean into it.
“Good girl. I’m going to push you to your limits tonight, do you understand?” His breath is warm. His fingers follow the line of my strap over my shoulder, toward my breast. I break out in goose bumps, and nod because he hasn’t given me permission to speak. “I’m going to put you up on that table and display you for everyone in the room.”
A gasp leaves my throat.
“Shh, it’s okay, Pet. They may look, but they are not allowed to touch what’s mine. Only I say who can touch what’s mine.”
A tear springs free of my eyes, soaking the back of my mask. I’m sure it’s ruined my makeup too, but I don’t suppose it matters what I look like to these men—only that I have all the right bits, and a dripping cunt they can fantasize about sliding into. That they can take by force, if Ares allows them to. He pulls me close, his erection pressed into my side, the smell of his peppery cologne confusing my senses as he leans down over me, protectively. “I’m going to make you come in front of all these people, Pet.”
A sob escapes me.
“And if you don’t make me happy, I will not be kind. I know this will push you, but trust me, you’re a natural on stage.”
In my mind’s eye I see the flash of white light, row upon row of empty seats, and the spinning in my head makes me so dizzy I teeter on my heels.
“You will please me in front of my friends, or you will pay in bruises on your body. Nod if you understand.”
My body trembles, and I nod, because what other choice do I have? If I disobey, will he pass me onto another Master here? Throw me away? I know he’ll never let me go free. I’ve seen his face, his brother’s face. I know their names. Their real names, and they knew mine.
Ihada name. I had a life, and if I was set free I’d return to it. I’d find a way to figure out who I was. The problem is, Ares knows who I am. He won’t let me go, and if I run, if I escape, he’ll know where to find me. I will never be free of him. Sometimes I’m not sure if I want my freedom.
He tugs on my leash and pulls me forward through the doors, past Pollyanna, and towards a table in the middle of the room. Several high-backed dining chairs remain in place; the rest are set in a semi-circle around the rich mahogany slab. All of those seats are occupied by filthy old men with hard eyes and even harder dicks.
Oh god, I can’t do this. My whole body tenses, ramrod straight, like a stunned deer the second before a predator strikes. Sir’s hands go around my waist, and he lifts me onto the table. I’m eye level with him now. It’s not the first time, but I feel the power exchange between us, and the significance of being below him at all times. This is too strange. As if we are equals. Everything about my captivity, about this moment, says we’re not. I could never be his equal; he’s made that abundantly clear.
“Breathe.”
I take a deep inhalation. My heart races, and I don’t know how to breathe anymore. What will he do to me? I look over his shoulder. The men lean forward in their seats, their hawk eyes watching everything as they wait for the show to begin. I can’t breathe. I can’t do this.
“Look at me, Pet. Not at the audience. You’re here on display for their viewing pleasure, but for you, they don’t exist. Only I do. Do you understand?”
I nod and swallow hard.
“I will not do anything to you that you don’t need or deserve.”
I meet his eyes again, but I look away, cast my gaze downward because I can’t see lust and intensity in his.
He chuckles and leans forward to whisper, “And you think you’re not naturally submissive.” He shakes his head. “So fucking adorable, little one.”
I want to scream that I’m not little. Inside me is the heart of a warrior, I’m sure of it, but I don’t know how to find it, so I suppose I am little. In every sense of the word.
“I’m going to play rough with you, Pet. This is your only warning. If you embarrass me in front of my colleagues, your punishment will be tenfold.”
I nod, terrified of that word.Rough. Hasn’t he already been rough with me? He’s been soft too, and sometimes sweet, but there is always brutality in his touch. No matter which incarnation he comes to me as, there’s always that tenuous thread between us anchoring me to him. A thread fashioned into a noose.No. Not a noose. You can hang yourself with a noose, and my rope is far too short. It is a lead, a chain, a way for him to keep me tethered, to dominate and command. A way to claim ownership, and to punish. Always to punish.
He pulls his tie from his neck and presses it against my eyes. It smells like him. Spicy, and erotic. The scent of pleasure and pain, and the promise of ecstasy. He ties it firmly at the back of my head, and I’m plunged into darkness save for the narrow line of light peeking in from the bottom where the tie hits the bridge of my nose. My senses are heightened immediately. The sounds are louder, the silence thicker.
“Thank you,” Ares says, and I’m not sure if he’s talking to me, but when I feel the cool slide of leather around my wrists, pinning them together and locking into place, I realize the words were meant for someone else. Someone who handed him these cuffs. Was it Pollyanna, with her perky little tits that she probably loves to shove in my Sir’s face? Is she smiling like a maniac now that I’ve been forced to show my body to these men? Is she touching Ares? Is he touching her while I sit here shaking on this table, awaiting my next instructions?
“Turn to the right and swing your legs up onto the table.”