Chapter Nine
Ajax
I wasn’t used to being taken care of after sex. Kieran had done it before Gwen’s arrival, and it seemed Gwen was even more intent on being the caretaker afterwards than her husband. The attention made me uncomfortable, but she assured me I’d get used to it.
I wanted to take care of her, but she got irritated with me, so I relaxed and let her dote on me.
She made me drink orange juice, and she insisted on wiping the lube from my backside.
No one had ever done that before — not even Kieran.
It made me feel self-conscious, but by then I was afraid to protest anymore.
Finally, Kieran locked the cruel steel chastity cage back on my dick. If I truly wasn’t a slave, why were they still caging my dick?
I didn’t dare complain though, and I made sure my body didn’t show any irritation or displeasure.
I wasn’t sure what I could speak up about, and what I needed to be quiet about.
When the cage was back on, Kieran said he was going to look through some of the notes Gwen had made in France, and he told her to go with me while I fixed myself something to eat.
I followed her to the kitchen, and she hop/levitated up to sit on the kitchen island. I pulled four steaks and two pounds of bacon from the refrigerator. I also put a full apron on — cooking bacon while nude isn’t recommended.
“What do you like besides maple?” I asked her. “I was given a list of things to avoid, but nothing about what the two of you like.”
“We’re used to a diet heavy on beef and pig from our shapeshifters.
The occasional gorging on buffalo can give you a little wilder taste.
Same with venison. It isn’t a special treat, but a nice change every once in a while.
Kieran will make you a special tea during the autumn months.
It has anise and nutmeg and a few other spices I enjoy.
I’m a big fan of how humans taste after a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Before smartphones became ubiquitous, I regularly went on the hunt for strangers over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Now, Abbott makes arrangements to have them come to us. ” She shrugged. “He spoils us.”
“I’ve learned the difference between a tyrant and a good Master. One rules through fear, the other through mutual respect and friendship. Maybe even love, in some cases.”
She considered my words a few seconds. “Don’t underestimate Abbott.
He uses the carrot and the stick. Those who don’t love him, fear him.
If I were to prove treasonous, he’d hurt me and make an example of me.
He’s done it to others more times than I can count.
He is without mercy to those who don’t show him the respect of his office.
For those who betray him, death would be a kindness, but death is a long time coming. ”
Probably a good time to ask questions. Maybe. “Kendra?”
She chuckled. “Yes. No one wants him to sic Kendra on them. I love her and adore her, but under no circumstances do I want to be on her bad side.”
“So, if you screw up and lose a bunch of their fortune, you’ll be tortured and killed?”
“It depends. Something unforeseen, totally out of the blue, he won’t be pleased, but there won’t be repercussions.
However, if we were derelict in our research?
” She gave a little shudder. “We won’t be.
For one thing, we adore Abbott and the other top people in the coterie.
We wouldn’t do anything to cause them pain or trouble.
Honestly, it’s more about wanting to please him than worry of what he’d do if we screw up.
He takes care of us. Like with you, for example.
Something we didn’t know we needed, he provided.
For us, the carrot works because we love him.
For others, the stick keeps them in line. ”
“Kieran hasn’t told you about all the rules Abbott gave him for me, has he?”
“Not yet, but we haven’t had time to get to it. I’d be happy to hear them from you, as well as how you feel about them.”
“My former master had me work out four to six hours a day. Different muscle groups on different days. Abbott forbid me from working out more than two hours a day, and I have to log my time and my exercises. If I go over, I’m to be whipped one strike for every minute extra I work out.
Plus, the time has to come off the next day’s session. ”
“Does Abbott feel you’re addicted to working out?”
I nodded. Had she looked in my head to get that, or did she figure it out? I didn’t ask.
“Do you enjoy being whipped?”
“No, Mistress. Not with the horsewhip.”
“How about a flogger?”
My cock tried to get hard in the cage, and I focused on cooking.
“You like your dick flogged?” she asked.
“I don’t want to like it, but—” I turned from her and focused on the bacon.
“It’s okay. Personally, the idea of getting your dick fiery hot before you fuck me sounds perfect. I’ll have to talk to Kieran about it.”
“Do you know how long I’m to be locked up?”
“Does it bother you?”
“He says I’m not a slave.”
“He did say that, and I can see how you feel about the cage. Free people shouldn’t have a body part locked away, but you don’t want to rock the boat.
” She seemed to consider the subject a few seconds.
“I tell you what — let us hold off two weeks and see what happens, yes? Or would you prefer we bring it up right away?”
“Two weeks is fine.”
“You hid your feelings about putting it back on. I didn’t pick up on your discontent.”
I didn’t answer. Slaves quickly learn how to remain neutral, even when performing an act they detest. I’d taken a chance by letting her see my resentment about the chastity device.
“You should be working, not watching me cook, Ma’am. I’m fine. Really.”
“I can see that, but I want to get to know you. Kieran says you’re an excellent driver. Do you enjoy it?”
“I do, and both of your vehicles are a joy to handle.”
“You’ve had extensive training?”
“Yes. The kind the highest security gets, so I can act both defensively and offensively on the road, if need be. I can also shoot a weapon left-handed out the window while driving, and I’m quite accurate.
” When working for Drake, I’d been trained to answer the client’s questions about my abilities, and to help them feel safe by assuring them I was capable.
It felt a little like bragging, which always gets a slave punished, but I was this vampire’s personal bodyguard and she needed to know my training.
“Yes, it is good to know. Thank you. Abbott’s notes say you were required to act as punisher for your former Master. How did you feel about that part of your duties?”
“It depended on the person. If they deserved it, I didn’t have trouble doing it.
Once, there was a young slave, a small girl, no more than seven or eight years old.
She was being punished for a previous offense with calorie restriction, and she was hungry, so she stole a small piece of bread. Two bites.”
I focused on my task while I told the story, hoping to keep the images from coming back.
“I was to give her fifty strikes with a horsewhip. The little thing was a human. I couldn’t do it.
I took five hundred strikes for my refusal, and I had to watch the Master give her one hundred, instead of the fifty I’d have given her.
She died three days later. I had to watch her slowly die from her injuries.
I should’ve just done it, but...” I shrugged.
“I couldn’t. I physically couldn’t make my arm go through the motions.
She was killed for stealing two damned bites of bread, and there was no recourse.
She wasn’t a person to him. She was an untrainable asset in his eyes, so her death meant nothing. ”
“What are Abbott’s other rules?” She didn’t seem bothered or surprised by my story, but then, the old ones have seen so much, not much affects them.
I was thankful for the change of subject.
“I’m your head of security, so I’m in charge of the men and women he sends to watch over the outside of your home.
If one of them screws up, I’ll be punished.
This means I’m in charge of doing whatever is necessary to keep them in line, including punishing them if necessary.
Any actions I take are to be reported immediately to Abbott and Kieran. ”
“Sounds fair. You understand we’ve gone to a higher alert and why, yes?”
I took everything off the burners and loaded three plates with food. I had apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert, but first, I needed protein. I talked while I worked, and Gwen followed me to the table and sat across from me.
“We’re expecting a big battle, and there are skirmishes now. You’re important to Abbott so he’s making sure you’re safe.”
“Correct. We have you in the house, and a small team of wolves owned by Abbott outside. I think it’s overkill, but my vote doesn’t count.”
“Owned by him, but they aren’t slaves.”
“Correct. He controls their willpower and their thoughts enough to be sure their number one goal is keeping the coterie safe. Otherwise, they’re free to enjoy their own hobbies and pleasures when they aren’t working.”
“Why didn’t he make me one of them when he inherited me? I know security. I’m a wolf. He owned me.”
“I do not know. At a guess? He saw something else in you. It’s my understanding he chooses those wolves carefully — lone wolves who likely aren’t safe being turned loose on humanity without an Alpha, and who are smart enough to do the job.
Sometimes he purchases slave werewolves from other vampires, when he’s running low, but even then, he makes sure it’s someone suited to the life he can offer them.
You’re clearly smart enough, but you needed a chance to explore what freedom might mean to you. ”