Chapter Seven
Kefir sighed as he drew another circle around a lion’s name.
A few seconds of thought and he added a string of question marks next to it.
Pushing the pad of paper away in disgust at his own inability to track down the lion in question and thereby finish his work on an entire family line, he leaned back in his chair.
Not for the first time that morning, his gaze was drawn to the computer on the other side of the room.
Arslan had no objection to Kefir using it for any research he might want to do on the various family lines—he’d made that very clear on numerous occasions.
And he hadn’t exactly forbidden Kefir from using it to research other things—not in so many words.
Arslan had merely advised all of the lions in his pride not to try to gain too much insight into the human world before they were ready for it, and warned them that the television programs and computer games humans were so fond of weren’t actually reliable indicators of normal human behaviour.
On the other hand, if accurate factual information was available on certain things, there was no reason to believe the reference material he suddenly found himself in desperate need of wouldn’t be on there, too.
Rising from the deeply cushioned office chair in front of the huge mahogany desk in Arslan’s study, Kefir cautiously made his way across the room. Another, equally luxurious, chair stood in front of the desk that housed the computer. Within seconds, the machine was ready for action.
A few keystrokes and the search engine spat out a huge list of websites. Nibbling gently at his bottom lip, Kefir glanced over his shoulder at the door. No one was there; no one would see what he was doing. He clicked on the first link.
A web page sprung up. For a full minute, Kefir just stared at the screen, slowly tilting his head from one side to the other as he studied the pictures.
A slight frown slowly gathering between his eyebrows, he clicked his way further into the website. He certainly seemed to be in the right place. He recognised some of the words that littered the text.
The website spoke about many of the things that seemed to fascinate humans like Ellery, and Marrick, so much. The site used the same words they did. It also provided a glossary, explaining what all those words actually meant to humans.
Most of them didn’t mean what Kefir had assumed they did. Masters and pets. Doms and subs. Protocols and punishments. Pulling his feet up onto the chair in front of him, he stared unblinking at the computer as thoughts raced around and around inside his head.
This was what Ellery wanted. This was what they’d been talking about earlier that day, before Ellery had to go back to his motorbike shop to accept delivery of a bike someone wanted him to work on.
That was how things were going to be between them when Ellery came back to the den—when Kefir’s master came back there.
Kefir dropped his gaze to stare at the backs of his arms where they rested on top of his knees.
He tried to imagine what his wrists might look like with thick leather cuffs wrapped around them, just like the ones the sacrifices wore when they were delivered to the den. Working his way up from that point, he tried to imagine some of the other things the website talked about.
His frown deepened.
The pictures on the website had certainly been…interesting. He just wasn’t sure if the men in those images had been enjoying what they were doing or not. Their cocks had been very enthusiastic, but there were far too many times when the expressions on their faces hadn’t matched their erections.
But Ellery liked things like that. And, now, Ellery was his master.
Kefir might not have been sure how much he’d enjoy the things he’d seen in the pictures or if he wanted Ellery to think of him the same way the website spoke about the human submissives. But there were other things which he was certain about—more certain about than he had ever been in his life.
He wanted Ellery. He wanted Ellery to be his mate and his master. He wanted Ellery to be pleased with him and to smile at him in exactly the same way he had when Kefir first agreed to be his submissive.
His submission had brought that smile to Ellery’s face. Seeing that same expression back there would be worth a certain amount of…discomfort. Kefir shut the computer down, but he didn’t leave the chair immediately. He stayed there, meticulously thinking through the whole situation for some time.
It was over an hour before Kefir finally made his way up the stairs, back to the bedroom he was sharing with Ellery. Taking up a position on the window seat, he stared out over the gravel drive.
He didn’t have to wait long. His master’s motorbike soon sped down the road and pulled up in the drive. The roar of the engine quieted to a purr before it finally slid into a silent sleep.
Rising from his perch in the window, Kefir turned his attention to the bedroom door. As Ellery pushed it open, Kefir was ready for him.
There had been a whole section of the website called protocol.
Lowering himself gracefully to his knees, Kefir put his hands neatly behind his back, just as one of the more easily understood pictures on the internet showed. His gaze remained firmly on the floor.
The door clicked closed behind Ellery. The sound of his boots came closer, and Ellery’s fingers stroked through Kefir’s hair. “Hello.”
Temporarily forgetting everything he had so carefully studied, Kefir looked up and met Ellery’s eyes. Then, he remembered that a sub was never supposed to make eye contact with his master, that it wasn’t a sub’s place to do that and quickly lowered his gaze again.
“Hello, sir.”
Sir. The website had been very clear about that, too. Honorifics were important. A sub should always call all doms sir. It was a sign of respect. A signal that he knew he wasn’t worthy of being on first name terms with someone who was so far his superior…
A little voice in the back of Kefir’s mind piped up then, reminding him that it was also what Ryland called Arslan.
No matter how much Kefir tried to tell himself that the human protocols were more important than feline traditions, that fact appealed to him even more than any of the information on the website.
Ellery stroked his fingers along Kefir’s jawline, guiding him to tilt his head back. It was impossible to do as Ellery seemed to want and keep to the rules the website said were so important at the same time.
Kefir hesitated, and Ellery’s touch became more insistent until Kefir gave in and looked up.
Ellery studied him carefully for several long seconds, before turning and walking away from him without another word. Kefir watched him stride all the way across the room and fold his frame into the armchair where he usually threw his clothes before they slept.
Ellery clicked his fingers, low down by the side of his leg. Kefir looked at them, curious as to what the gesture might mean. The website hadn’t mentioned anything about clicking fingers, at least not on any of the pages he’d read. But there had been a lot of pages he hadn’t studied yet, and—
“Come here,” Ellery translated.
Kefir did as he was told, and Ellery welcomed him to kneel on the floor at his feet, tangling his fingers in his hair and pulling him forward to rest against his body. His scent radiated pleasure as Kefir automatically snuggled in against him, nuzzling at his shirt.
“That was a pretty way to welcome your master home,” Ellery said, as he guided Kefir to tilt his head back again and offer up his mouth to be kissed.
Ellery’s lips were strong against his, determined to control and possess with every touch.
Kefir let his eyes drop closed. Whoever had written all that stuff on that website hadn’t spent anywhere near enough time on the subject of kissing.
He obviously couldn’t have known how marvellous Ellery was at it.
When Ellery pulled away and sat back in the chair, Kefir nuzzled his way closer to his master’s body again. His master. The word felt a lot more natural in his head than calling Ellery his pet ever had.
Kefir rubbed his cheek against the inside of Ellery’s thigh. Within seconds, he found himself automatically working his way closer towards Ellery’s fly.
Ellery laughed and nudged him away. Kneeling at his feet, Kefir stared up at him, wondering how a man could ever want to say no while his scent screamed out such a very enthusiastic “yes”.
“Someone’s had a good day,” Ellery said. “What have you been up to?”
Kefir looked down as he nuzzled against Ellery’s hand. “I worked on the family lines. And I did some research,” he added, conscientiously.
“Did it go well?”
Kefir thought about that. Ellery would almost certainly be pleased with everything he had learned. Yes. Kefir nodded, that counted as going well. “Tell me about your day, sir?”
“The guy brought a second extra bike in to be overhauled alongside the first. Complete custom job.”
“That’s a good thing?” Kefir checked.
Ellery smiled down at Kefir, his fingers still toying with his hair, tugging gently at the strands in a way that went straight to Kefir’s cock. “Yes. A very good thing.”
Kefir nodded his satisfaction, pleased that his master was happy.
“Arslan’s invited us to join them for dinner,” Ellery mentioned then. “They’re expecting us downstairs.”
“Do we have time to…?”
Ellery shook his head.
That was his master’s decision. Both Ellery and the website had been very clear on that point. Kefir did his best to hide his disappointment.
“We do have time for something else instead,” Ellery said.
Kefir nodded enthusiastically.
“Don’t you want to know what it is before you agree?” Ellery asked with a chuckle.
Kefir shook his head. “I trust my master, sir.”
Ellery just stared at him for a few seconds, but Kefir knew he’d said exactly the right thing. Scent didn’t lie.