“Thorn, this is Mistress Lee’Lah. You will treat her with the same respect you treat me,” Neh’sa announced when he entered the training room the next day.
Thorn wasn’t sure what to think—what the addition of a new Mistress added to the equation between himself and Neh’sa. She’d fallen asleep with her head pillowed against his chest but he’d woken cold and alone, twisted awkwardly on the couch with empty arms. She must have deserted him during the night.
Then, that morning she’d been nowhere to be found in the domicile. There had been none of the usual training or teasing and he found he missed it, even though it made him half crazy. He was worried about her, wondering where she’d disappeared to and then, suddenly in the late afternoon, he was summoned to the training room.
He drank her in as he stood there. She was wearing a severely cut black leather suit which covered her completely, while clinging to her full curves, and her long hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the back of her neck. Compared to the skimpily dressed blond female beside her, her outfit was positively modest. Was she trying to tell him something? Trying to send him a message? And if so, what in the Seven Hells was it?
After the intense scene between them the day before, Thorn felt stiff and uncertain—his heart bruised in some indefinable way. He’d nearly snapped with all her teasing, had felt the fire rising inside him and had almost lost control and had a flame-up. He’d been certain at one point that it was going to get away from him—that he would burn the whole fucking one thousand and one story building down around their ears.
And then she’d used the long silver wand on him.
No—you let her use the wand, corrected a small, sarcastic voice in the back of his head. She’s tiny—you could break her in two with one hand if you wanted to. Instead, you submitted to her—let her chain you down and penetrate you again. Not only that, you enjoyed it. Gods, what in the Seven Hells is wrong with you?
Thorn had no answer for that.
I had to let her, he tried to argue with the voice. I’m on a mission here. I have to act like the perfect body-slave—have to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
The little voice didn’t speak up again but Thorn thought he could hear it sneering in the back of his head. Was it the voice of his conscience…or simply his masculine self-pride? For what male in his right mind would enjoy what Neh’sa had done to him the night before—enjoy it and crave it again?
Not that penetration was all he craved from her. Part of him—the dominant part—wanted to take her hard and long. Wanted to fuck her into submission—to break her the way she seemed intent on breaking him.
But that wasn’t going to happen. He was going to use her to get into the Library of All Knowledge and then he would leave and never see her again. He had to keep telling himself that—had to keep reminding himself that this situation wasn’t real or it really would fucking break him. He felt on the edge all the time now—the fire always burning hot and close to the surface.
Well, except for right after she made him come, Thorn admitted to himself. Then he felt a peace so all-encompassing it was like nothing he had ever experienced before.
It was strange to be feeling so much after years of repressing all emotion. Strange to feel so fragile and raw inside after all the long cycles of being frozen. Neh’sa had thawed him against his will—her touch had forced him to react—to feel—and now it seemed he couldn’t stop feeling.
The situation reminded Thorn entirely too much of when he had been a young male, before he’d learned his iron self control. Reminded him of the time when the fire had actually gotten away from him and the deadly consequences when it had…
No! He shoved the bad memory aside ruthlessly. He couldn’t allow himself to go there, not in this situation. Not if he wanted to retain his sanity. And he had to stop himself from feeling so much for Neh’sa. When he felt too much for a female—when he felt too much love, too much protectiveness—that was when bad things happened.
Never, whispered a little voice in his head. Never let it happen again…
“Thorn, did you hear me?” Neh’sa demanded and he realized he’d allowed himself to get trapped in his own head, mired in the misery of the past. In the labyrinth of guilt and sorrow that twisted inside him, so deep he could easily get lost in it if he allowed himself to start down that dark path…
“Forgive me, Mistress,” he said smoothly, making a deep bow to her and the tall, blonde female standing beside her. “My mind, as always, was consumed by your beauty and I failed to hear your words.”
“A liar,” murmured the blonde Mistress. She had sharp green eyes and a triangular face which reminded Thorn very much of the Earth animal called a cat. “But such pretty lies he tells.”
“Thorn has proven to be straightforward and truthful.” Neh’sa spoke strongly, defending him. “He has given me no reason to doubt him.”
Inside, Thorn felt his heart twist with something like misery. Gods, if only she knew the levels of deception he had sunk to. But what else could he do with the future of his entire race at stake?
“Well, if you say so.” The blonde Mistress shrugged, a fluid, cat-like gesture. She was wearing a close fitting sheath of a dress in shimmering pale green that brought out her eyes. The dress had a deep v in the front which showed her plump, bare breasts and a similar one below which showed her panties—nothing more than a series of strings which outlined her pussy rather than covering it.
She looked like she was dressed for easy access.
Thorn frowned. Even for a Mistress of Yonnie Six, this was a provocative outfit. What was the purpose of this new female? Did Neh’sa simply want to show off his training?
His questions were answered by Neh’sa’s next statement.
“Mistress Lee’Lah will be…” She cleared her throat, as though the words choked her. “Will be taking over your physical training from this point on,” she went on in a flat voice, as though forcing herself to speak. “She…she will assess your oral skills and take over your training in sexual submission.”
“What? No!” The words burst from Thorn’s lips before he could stop them.
The blond Mistress was pretty enough—beautiful in fact. Her breasts were full and her pink nipples were puffy and enticing, not to mention the fact that her pussy was already wet. But she wasn’t Neh’sa and it was to Neh’sa he had given himself. The idea of being with another female sexually wasn’t just distasteful to Thorn—it actively repelled him.
Both Neh’sa and the other Mistress were frowning at his outburst.
“I see we’ve got some serious work to do here,” the blonde Mistress Lee’Lah murmured. “I thought you said he was generally obedient, Neh’sa.”
“So he is.” Neh’sa frowned. “I’m not sure what’s going on now.”
“Slave!” The cat-like Mistress Lee’Lah raised her purring voice, making it crack like a whip in the quiet of the training room. “Come here at once and service my pussy!” She spread her legs wide, standing in the center of the room, showing her soft pink folds with just a dusting of delicate blonde curls at the apex of her mound. “Do it now.”
“No.” Thorn held his ground. How could he get out of this? What could he do or say to convince Neh’sa it was a bad idea? Because he couldn’t go with the blonde Mistress—he couldn’t. Everything within him rebelled at the very idea.
“Thorn,” Neh’sa said, breaking into his uneasy thoughts. “There’s no need to be reluctant—Mistress Lee’Lah won’t deny you. You have my full…” She stopped and cleared her throat again as though continuing was somehow painful. “My full permission to demonstrate your, uh, considerable oral skills to her.”
“With respect, Mistress, my oral skills are reserved for you,” Thorn answered in a low voice.
Neh’sa frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve been doing some research on your kind, Thorn. I know that Kindred males have a biological need to orally gratify their females. I’m offering you the chance to fulfill that need.”
“Mistress Lee’Lah isn’t my female.” Thorn felt the growl rising in his throat and tried to push it back down. “You are, Neh’sa,” he said, looking her directly in the eyes.
“Well!” Mistress Lee’Lah seemed shocked at his statement. “You didn’t tell me he was so possessive, Neh’sa. And do you allow him to call you by your first name like that instead of Mistress? Not to mention meeting your eyes instead of dropping his gaze as a proper body-slave should!”
“Most certainly not.” Neh’sa’s frown had deepened. “Thorn,” she said. “You’re being very disobedient.”
“And I’ll continue to be disobedient as long as you’re trying to violate my limits,” Thorn said, frowning back.
“What?” Neh’sa looked taken aback. “Who said anything about limits?”
“I did.” Thorn held her gaze with his, willing her to understand. “Mistress, you said you did some research on my kind—on the Kindred. If you did, then you should have run across the fact that Kindred males are unfailingly monogamous.” He shook his head. “I cannot orally service or engage in sexual practices with another female—not while I belong to you.”
Neh’sa looked at him uncertainly.
“Thorn—” she began but he wasn’t done.
“When you first touched my back and saw the scars, you promised not to whip me there for either pain or pleasure. You called it a ‘hard limit,’” he reminded her earnestly. “Well this is a hard limit too, Mistress. Please, I’ll do almost anything else—let you do anything else to me. I…” He swallowed hard. “I think I proved that last night. But I cannot be with another female. Not when I have given myself to you.”
“You didn’t give yourself to me. I bought you,” Neh’sa reminded him sharply but was there something like relief in her voice? Thorn thought there was.
She doesn’t want to see me with another female anymore than I want to be with one, he thought.
“Even so, Mistress,” he said evenly, still holding her gaze. “I think we both know that no amount of money could have made me submit to you as I did last night. I gave myself to you in a very real and permanent way. I am yours—I don’t want to be anyone else’s.”
Part of him was shouting that this was wrong—that he shouldn’t be making such declarations when the true reason for him being here had nothing to do with submitting to her and everything to do with his mission. But somehow the words rose up in him and Thorn couldn’t keep them inside.
It was true—every bit of it was true. He had given himself to her—opened himself in a way he couldn’t have borne to do with any other female in the universe. Though his reasons for being here might be false, his devotion to her was real. He couldn’t have allowed himself such vulnerability otherwise.
“Please, Mistress,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t cheapen what’s between us by asking me to share it with someone else. You’re the one I want—the only one I want.”
“Thorn…” she whispered and her lovely dark eyes filled with tears. Then she turned quickly away. “Go to…to the food prep area and tell service droids I want tanza-brew tea for both myself and Lady Lee’Lah. Go quickly and tell them now.”
“Yes, Mistress.” Thorn bowed, though her back was still to him, and left the training room.
He thought he had made his point. Neh’sa’s tears, however, were unexpected. They tore at his heart although what they meant, he couldn’t say.
* * * * *
“Neh’sa, are you all right?” Lee’Lah was looking, uncertainty written on her lovely features. “What just happened? What’s going on with you and this new body-slave?”
“I…I don’t know.” Neh’sa swiped hastily at her eyes, trying to still the emotion that threatened to overflow inside her. “I…I can’t explain it.” She looked up at the other Mistress. “I should have brought you in for his sexual training ages ago—should have let you oversee it as I have done with my other body-slaves. But somehow I…I couldn’t.”
“You wanted to keep him for yourself? Well, that’s certainly understandable.” Lee’Lah sent a look over her shoulder at the retreating Thorn. “What a perfectly gorgeous beast! Truly, I think he’s the most handsome body-slave you’ve ever had. Well, other than Heloth, of course, although this one is considerably more rugged than Heloth was.”
But Neh’sa found she couldn’t bear to hear her old lover spoken of in the same breath with Thorn. Not when she herself kept comparing them, kept remembering that the last time she had felt so strongly for a body-slave had been those ten years ago when she’d been young and happy and in love…
In love? whispered a voice in her head. Are you actually so foolish as to allow yourself to start thinking of love again after all these years?
Neh’sa pushed it aside. Of course she wasn’t falling in love with her new body-slave. Despite the magnetic attraction between them, she’d only had him for a week. Such thoughts were foolish and weak and she had to stop thinking them.
The thing to do, whispered the practical part of her brain, is to insist that Thorn work with Lee’Lah. To give him no choice. Call him back at once and force him to do as he is ordered and service her orally.
The thought made her stomach clench like a slick fist at the thought. She opened her mouth and heard herself saying,
“Lee’Lah I’m so sorry but I think we’re going to have to cut our training session short today. Perhaps you’d better go.”
“What?” The other Mistress widened her lovely green eyes. “Neh’sa, tell me you’re not going to let him get away with this…this insolence?”
“What would you have me do?” Neh’sa demanded, turning on the other woman. “You know my feelings about respecting limits.”
“Oh, please.” Lee’Lah made a shooing gesture. “No male has limits when it comes to a ripe and ready female. They’re all nothing more than beasts in heat. Just let me shove his face into my crotch and he’ll soon lose any idea of ‘limits’ and be contented to taste my honey.”
Neh’sa frowned. Though she liked Lee’Lah, she was well aware that the other female didn’t exactly share her views. Lee’Lah wouldn’t use a pain collar on a slave but neither did she consider males to be equal with females, either intellectually or emotionally. To her, the other sex were just barely sentient beasts who lived to fuck, eat, and sleep. She didn’t believe any of them was capable of much more than that.
But Neh’sa had seen the sincerity in Thorn’s eyes when the big Kindred had begged her not to share what they had with another.
He was telling the truth—he really doesn’t want to be with another female, she thought and somewhere inside her, a knot loosened.
To be perfectly honest, she’d been dreading watching the big Kindred with Lee’Lah. The other Mistress always put on such a show when she was having a slave eat her pussy—moaning and bucking, scratching their shoulders and pulling their hair… Neh’sa was relieved she wouldn’t have to witness that spectacle now.
“I’m sorry,” she told the blonde Mistress firmly. “But I need more time to work with Thorn before we can proceed.”
“You mean you want him to work on you.” Lee’Lah gave her a scathing look. “I never thought I’d see the day when you went soft over a slave, Neh’sa.”
Neh’sa gave her friend a frosty look.
“Thorn is my body-slave and I’ll train him in whatever manner I find to be appropriate. Right now I think it’s best if you leave.”
“Careful, Neh’sa,” the blonde Mistress hissed. “That sounds an awful lot like a dis-invitation and after what happened with Lady Wraith’neck, I don’t think you want to offend anyone else. You need all the friends you can get right now.”
Neh’sa’s stomach clenched again. Though she hated to admit it, Lee’Lah was right. Neh’sa still had no idea what Lady Wraith’neck’s plans for vengeance were but the more time that went by without hearing from the other Mistress or her barrister, the more anxious she got. She couldn’t help wondering what Lady Wraith’neck was going to do.
“I’m not dis-inviting you, of course,” she said, keeping her voice even with some effort. “I’m just saying that I don’t feel now is a good time to continue Thorn’s sexual training.”
“You mean you don’t think it’s a good time for me to continue it,” Lee’Lah snapped, clearly still upset. She was spoiled, as were most Yonnie Six Mistresses who had been born into privilege, and she was acting as though Neh’sa had offered her a particularly delicious bon-bon and then pulled it away at the last moment before she could bite down.
“I’m sorry,” Neh’sa said again, firmly. “I promise if I want to move in that direction, I’ll ask you to return.”
“Don’t bother.” Lady Lee’Lah was already collecting her things. “I’m leaving.” Nose in the air and a miffed expression on her pretty, pouty face, she swept out of Neh’sa’s domicile without another word.
Neh’sa sighed as she heard Maximus’s wishes for her good health as the butler-slave bowed her out, and the slamming of the door behind her. Well, there was another friend she had lost which wasn’t good. As spoiled and petty as she was, Lee’Lah had been a strong ally in the treacherous world of Yonnite high society. You had to watch your back around the other Mistresses, most of whom could be as sweet as sandoon honey to your face and as venomous as a xiven viper otherwise.
I need to get out of here, she thought. I need something to distract me from all this.
As if reading her mind, a mechanical voice came over the speaker system telling her that the clinic was calling. Apparently there were multiple injuries to deal with.
“Tell them I’m on my way,” she told the house information system, before going to change. Maybe losing herself in the world of healing would help her forget the old wound in her own heart for a while.