Chapter 18

Gryph

Joey and the other werewolves didn’t need my input to finish up, so I was free to stay with Julia during her meeting. She was annoyed with my distrust of all her past clients, insisting she had complete faith in most of them, but I didn’t plan on taking any chances. She’d already warned me that not all clients would agree to allow me to be present during their meetings. As much as I didn’t like it, I could accept that some of their discussions might be too personal to have me standing in the room.

Watching Julia work was fascinating. This particular couple didn’t mind me sitting in, likely because they were exhibitionists. I was glad Julia had told me a little about this demon species in advance; otherwise, I might have lost my composure.

Before me sat two men who were so beautiful it almost hurt to look at them. I’m not into men, but these guys were something else. According to Julia, this species of sex demon could change gender when they wanted to. Centuries ago, they’d been forced to work in the sex industry until they’d been rescued by Lucifer. I was still having trouble accepting that the devil had rescued anyone. These demons didn’t feed on sexual energy like other sex demons. Instead, their own sexual energy could be used to make their partner look and feel younger. As if that wasn’t enough to make them in high demand, they had three tongues.

“Julia, you always plan the most wonderful getaways for us,” the demon with the long black hair and vivid blue eyes cooed.

“Yes, and this one will be no exception,” the demon with the vivid blue hair and obsidian eyes added.

Both stood just over five feet tall with trim builds and iridescent skin that shimmered in the light. They each wore long, nearly transparent robes.

“I’m glad you’re pleased,” Julia told them. “This will be my first time working with this hotel. It’s only recently opened. Let me know if there are any issues, and I will work with the hotel to resolve them. I don’t anticipate any problems, but I want to make sure you know up front that I don’t have any client reviews yet.”

“I’m sure it will be wonderful,” the blue-haired demon assured her. “We have a friend who stayed there last week, and she loved it.”

“That’s good to hear,” Julia told him.

“Can we add some new props for this trip?” the black-haired demon asked.

“Yes,” the blue-haired demon agreed. “We were hoping to try something a little daring this time. I’ve been reading some of those wicked BDSM club books. It’s definitely time to spice things up in the bedroom.”

“Let me take you over to check out some items,” Julia told them as she grabbed a tablet from her desk drawer. She handed it to the demons after entering some information. “This is for your selections. Check the green box if you definitely want it and the yellow box it you might want it. When you’re done, we’ll go over the list so you can make your final selections. The prices will also be listed on here. With your package you get two props, so the first two items you select will be free.”

“Wonderful,” the demons exclaimed in unison.

Julia led them to a room filled with a variety of sex toys, some I’d never seen.

“I’ll be in my office,” she told them. “Just come back in when you’re ready.”

“That’s quite a room,” I mused after we shut the demons in the toy room.

Julia grinned at me. “That’s a relatively tame room. Wanna see where we take people who are really into BDSM?”

I shook my head and said, “I’m not sure I’m ready for that room if the other room is tame.”

“Don’t be a pussy, Gryph,” she taunted, startling a bark of laughter out of me.

“You just love to push me with that sassy mouth of yours, don’t you?” I asked.

“Are you trying to change the subject so I won’t see that you’re not man enough for the hardcore sex den?” she asked with a grin.

“Lead the way,” I told her. “Just don’t be surprised if I’m inspired to punish you with something in that room.”

Julia gave me a stern look over her shoulder. “Don’t even joke about something like that.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it when I talk about warming your cute ass,” I told her.

“This isn’t that type of room,” she assured me. “The room you just saw is for people who want to play at being a little kinky. If that room shocked you, I can’t wait to see your reaction to this one.”

When Julia opened the door, I was surprised to find it was much larger than the room we’d just left. It had to be larger to hold the furniture. I’d never imagined there were so many devices meant to restrain or punish someone. There was even a rack in the center of the room, and it didn’t look like a toy. Along the walls were various implements of torture, including whips with metal spikes and several things I was certain no one would want inserted in their bodies.

“I can see why you didn’t take those two in here when they mentioned reading BDSM books,” I mused.

Julia laughed. “This room is for those with a lot of experience and a much higher pain tolerance.”

“People really add this stuff to their packages?” I asked in disbelief. Werewolves tended to like things rough, but we weren’t turned on by torture.

“This room is really popular,” Julia told me. “Demons especially seem to go for BDSM. They also have a much higher pain tolerance, so we need to have more extreme toys in here. The rack is really popular.”

“Is that a mace?” I asked.

“Not a real one,” she assured me. “It won’t cause too much damage.”

Julia locked up the room, and I followed her to her office. Persephone had already left for the day, and Allie was in with her own clients, so things were relatively quiet.

“A lot of werewolves are into BDSM, too,” I told her as I slumped down on the sofa in her office. “It’s not so much about the pain. Werewolves definitely have a higher pain tolerance, so there are some who are into it for that reason. We have our sadists and masochists, but most werewolves will only use violence to maintain control and ensure the safety of our pack. Most don’t gain any real pleasure from giving or receiving pain.”

As I’d expected, Julia looked intrigued. While her magic was related to the bonds between witches, I was pretty sure her power base had more to do with sex. After being dragged out of my own personal hell, mostly by Allie, I’d decided to stop acting like a whiny pup licking his wounds and get my shit together. As part of that process, I’d gotten my official security license from the Council of Witches. I could now enter official witch meetings if I was providing security for a witch. Part of the process had involved reading some really boring crap about witch hierarchy. Even a weak witch could be high-ranking with the right bloodline. Granted, that didn’t happen often. Still, it could happen. As part of my research, I’d spent more time than I needed to reading up on Julia’s family. It had seemed like proof I was a glutton for punishment since it involved learning about the woman who’d told me we had no future. Now, I was grateful for my insights into her.

“I know BDSM isn’t all about pain,” she added thoughtfully. “We have clients who are more interested in the power exchange. Others simply have a fascination with bondage. Most of our clients who are into extreme pain are demons. We don’t have any werewolf or vampire clients, so I know much less about their kinks. Why are you into BDSM? Is it the power exchange?”

My eyebrows rose at her question. “What makes you think I’m into BDSM, Sass? Especially, after you saw my reaction to that room.”

She shrugged, and her cheeks turned a beautiful shade of pink as she responded to my question. “You did threaten to spank me when we first met and a few times after that.”

I chuckled at her response. “When I first made that threat, it had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with being an enforcer. The threat of violence is often used to get others in the pack to bow down to those above them. My social skills were even worse back then, and I had no clue how to get you to stop shrieking at me. I decided spanking you would make you stop, or at least give you a good reason to shriek at me.”

“So, you really wanted to hurt me?” she asked softly.

“No, Sass, I really didn’t want to hurt you,” I replied. “I already told you that wasn’t what it was about. That day was damn confusing for me. I was attracted to you and confused by you. None of that had to do with any fascination with BDSM.”

“Oh,” Julia breathed out before clearing her throat.

“We should stop talking about this,” I told her. “Why don’t you pick a different subject?”

“Do you have any family?” she asked before her eyes widened, and she quickly added. “I can’t believe I asked that, knowing about your situation with the pack. I’m sorry, Gryph.”

“It’s okay, Sass,” I assured her. “My parents are both dead, but I have one brother. He’s older than me. Just to show you how different we are from witches, my brother is one of the most submissive wolves in the pack.”

I sat on the sofa and was surprised when Julia sat beside me.

“Were you and your brother close growing up?” she asked.

My mind drifted back to a time when we’d been too young to understand where we belonged in the pack hierarchy, a time when we’d just been brothers. “Yeah, but we don’t talk. We really can’t now that I’m banished from the pack.”

Julia looked sad. “You must miss him.”

“We haven’t been close for a long time,” I admitted. “Once we were old enough to realize we fell at opposite ends of the pack hierarchy, we drifted apart.”

“So, werewolves tend to only socialize with those who are at the same level on the pack hierarchy?” she asked.

“There are no rules regarding relationships between dominant and submissive werewolves,” I told her. “A lot of wolves who are at the farthest ends of the pack hierarchy gravitate toward each other.”

“That makes sense,” Julia remarked. “I suppose if you’re an extremely dominant werewolf, you’ll be happier with an extremely submissive werewolf.”

“From what I’ve been told, those are the couples in the pack who enjoy BDSM. Those couples feel that when they’re alone, they can shake off the responsibilities of their role in the pack. They like to have a little role-reversal and power exchange in the bedroom,” I explained.

Julia placed an innocent hand on my knee. For her, it was innocent, at least. For me, it was like fire shooting straight to my groin. “I’m glad you’re opening up to me about werewolves. We should have talked more. It seems we both had ideas about where things were going when we first met, but neither of us really talked about it. Maybe if we’d talked more, you wouldn’t have spent so many months avoiding me.”

“I’m not good at talking,” I admitted softly. “I figured I was showing you how I felt.”

“Sex isn’t love,” Julia pointed out.

“We didn’t have sex,” I reminded her.

Julia snorted. “We came pretty close. If you hadn’t gone all caveman and told my brother I belonged to you, we’d have definitely ended up having sex.”

Thinking about all the things I’d done with Julia was doing nothing to help my already hard dick. Visions of the many times I’d pinned her to a wall and kissed her until she was panting and begging for more of my touch were running through my mind. Her delicate wrists easily fit in my hand, so I’d had no trouble holding her in place. We’d both known she could stop me if she wanted to. Julia was a strong witch. What made it hotter was her acceptance of my dominance in situations like that. It made me understand a little of what other werewolves had gotten from the power exchange side of BDSM. I’d loved the way Julia had trusted me. At least, I’d believed she’d trusted me at the time. She was definitely right about our lack of communication causing problems back then.

“I suppose it’s a good thing we figured out where we stood before it was too late,” I grumbled because it still bothered me that she’d turned me down.

Julia looked utterly bewildered by my tone, and I knew she was getting ready to ask more questions. “It’s fine, Sass,” I assured her.

“Gryph,” she began. “Something is bothering you. I thought we just agreed to talk about things more.”

I hadn’t agreed to that, but I wouldn’t argue since I planned to make a genuine effort to talk more. It wasn’t the time for this conversation. “No,” I told her. “This isn’t the place to talk. Security is weakest in this building, so I need to focus on keeping you safe.”

“Fine, we’ll talk later,” she reluctantly agreed.

“Sure,” I replied as I stood, needing to get my mind focused on protecting Julia. “I’m going to check on Joey. He was just about done when I went into your client meeting. I’ll be back in about ten minutes.”

“You’re just trying to avoid this conversation,” she accused.

I had to laugh at her accusation. “We can talk later, Sass. I really shouldn’t have allowed myself to get this distracted. When we’re at my place, I can let my guard down, and we can discuss this more. At least, I’ll try.”

She let out a sigh and nodded before standing. “I’d better go see how my clients are doing with selecting props. Something tells me they’re going overboard.”

I hurried out of Julia’s office, trying to conjure up images that would help get my dick under control. Sadly, nothing seemed to work. Julia Dupree was far too much temptation.