4 DAX
I take a moment to study the girl in my chair. She looks like all the other girls who come down here, only more broken than most are initially. Usually, they’ll fight and be all belligerent and hateful to begin with, thinking they’re special—strong enough to not break. That’s the part of the process I enjoy the most, seeing them scream and flail as I force them to take whatever degradation I’m inflicting upon them. When they do break, I lose interest—their screams become empty, and their fight loses vigor.
The girl we trained for Nikolai—a friend of Mikhail’s who had found a natural submissive—stirred this desire to dominate a true submissive, which I haven’t felt since I left the States ten years ago. Natural submissives are rare, and the ones who do come down here tend to break before I get a chance to look for it, and breaking tends to snuff out whatever real submission was ever there. After Nikolai’s girl, I spent a few weeks trying to nurture the submissive inclination in a few girls who seemed to hold a flicker of it. I did succeed in making them more obedient without breaking their will or threatening them, but the submission never felt real, so I quickly grew bored and went back to the usual way of training them. But since then, I haven’t found the same joy in the things I do down here.
I’m tempted to give this one the usual treatment, but if Mikhail says the submission is there, it surely is. He knows people. And it’s not like he has come down here with just any girl, claiming she’s submissive. It’s been three months since he promised me he’d find me a natural submissive. So I believe him when he says it’s in there—although it’s hard to do so as I watch her.
With a sigh, I step around the chair to stand beside her head. “Give me your hand.”
She doesn’t react; she just keeps staring at the wall.
Mikhail lets out a laugh, and I shoot him an impatient look. “You said you wouldn’t interfere.”
He makes one of his annoying smug shrugs. “I’m not. I’m just watching.”
I return my attention to the girl and say with a bit more force, “Give me your hand.”
She jumps at my sharp tone and lifts her hand.
“This is ridiculous,” I say as I snatch her slender wrist and press it into the leather cuff attached to the table and buckle the strap. “This girl is not submissive.”
Mikhail lets out an even heartier laugh, and I snap at him, “What?”
He holds his hands up in mock surrender. “You told me not to interfere.”
“What?” I repeat, sharpening my tone at him too.
“Are you sure you want my opinion?” He gestures to the girl as sarcasm lights up a self-satisfied smile in his eyes. “You seem to know exactly what you’re doing.”
I rub my hand over my forehead. I haven’t slept enough for days, and my patience is running low. But Mikhail is an expert on reading people, and if he’s seeing something I’m not, I want to know. So I concede, lifting a hand into the air with a sigh. “Go ahead.”
“First off, if you want her to truly submit, you have to give her something to submit to. Right now, you’re only giving her something to fear.”
Fuck, he’s right. “What else?”
“If you don’t want this project, after all, I’ll be happy to take over. She’s already been a lot of fun, and I could use a new challenge.”
I shake my head. I’m sure he’d love that. He enjoyed Nikolai’s girl so much he would have kept her for himself if it wasn’t for Nikolai being a close friend. If this girl really is the same, I don’t want to miss out. But I can’t get into the right headspace today. Dominating doesn’t come naturally to me anymore. “No, I want her, but I need a day or two before I start.”
“Fair enough. I’ll stay off her.”
“Have you chipped her?”
Mikhail gives a nod. “It says she’s off-limits, and I’ve put an off-limits sign on her door and told Dorin explicitly. I’ve got it covered.”
“Take her back to her cell then, and avoid scaring her any further.” Arching a brow, I add, “If you can manage.” I unbuckle the strap, then press the back of my hand to her chest to feel her temperature. “And make sure to get her warm, so she won’t get sick.” Grabbing her arm, I help her off the chair. “Off you go. Nothing more’s gonna happen today.”
I wrap my hands around both her arms to steady her as she staggers on unsteady feet. Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m not up for starting her training today. She’s still recovering from the initial shock of having all her rights ripped away with one cruel jerk. We do that on purpose, but it’s not a great way to nurse submission.
She casts me a look from below her long eyelashes, and I swear I see a flicker of gratitude that stems from more than simple relief. My cock stirs in my pants, and I tilt my head slightly to examine further, but the gratitude is gone as quickly as it came as she stiffens again and averts her gaze.