14. Onyx
Onyx
Onyx eyed Dominic warily as he crossed over to his desk, keeping his distance.
He didn’t know what to expect, but the command to have Shane meet them in the gym wasn’t it.
Relief flooded him, momentarily cutting into the agitation, and he hurried across the room to flee it in favor of the gym.
He took off at a near-run, needing to get this all out before he lost his mind and did something stupid.
Because in Tristan, he’d seen a future that was inevitable, one he didn’t want but faced anyway.
And he didn’t know what to do with that.
Onyx flung the door to the gym open and stepped inside without a second thought. Shane hadn’t yet arrived, but even knowing that the werewolf would be there soon helped.
A little.
He turned back toward Dominic as the other witch entered the gym behind him, taking a deep breath. He was fine. He was fine. Things weren’t bad right now. He wasn’t being punished. Dominic was giving him an outlet, even if he didn’t seem to understand why things were so bad in Onyx’s head.
Onyx would thank him for this small mercy later.
Probably.
When Shane entered the gym, Onyx breathed out slowly, glad to see the werewolf in ways that didn’t even make sense.
Onyx didn’t miss the urgency with which Shane moved from the door to the ring, which he was beyond grateful for. He needed this outlet desperately, needed to be around someone who wasn’t fucking broken beyond repair, who didn’t expect him to be broken in turn.
Shane could be a friend — if Dominic allowed it — and Onyx wanted that. He didn’t want those slaves around. Just Shane.
Shane shot a glance at Dominic, then ducked through the ropes of the ring and went into a loose defensive posture. “You okay?"
The question took Onyx aback, and he gave a quick shake of his head in the negative, not trusting himself to speak.
When he attacked, it wasn’t with his usual precision or power.
It was a little sloppy, a little desperate, at least at first. He just needed to move, and it was only when Shane pressed him that he started to come back to himself.
Little by little, he started to respond to the attacks with more certainty and skill instead of the way he’d started out.
Onyx wasn’t calming down, not exactly, but he didn’t feel like he was about to burst either.
The damage had been done; he’d had a reminder of the trauma that had been inflicted upon him from the very start, and he’d seen a specter before him of what was to come.
But it wasn’t quite as immediate, and he worked it out in the ring with Shane.
As Onyx’s strikes became a little less frantic, a little more focused, Shane started dropping murmured praises. “Good,” he said on a particularly well executed strike, then “nicely done” after a strike that got through his defenses — after he’d wheezed for a moment.
Each word of praise had Onyx’s resolve strengthening.
He wasn’t going to end up like that. He wasn’t.
No matter what, he wasn’t going to be a plaything who sat around and lounged with other slaves like that.
He was still a fighter, still a dangerous weapon, and he wanted nothing to do with those who had turned their backs on even the concept of free will.
He kept going until he was exhausted, panting and with sweat trailing down his face and soaking his shirt through. Only when he couldn’t go any longer did he take a step back, disengaging from Shane and signaling that he was ready to stop.
He stood there panting, trying to think of something to say to Shane. The werewolf had helped, in ways he couldn’t even know, and Onyx wanted to communicate that to him — but he didn’t know how, especially when Dominic was right there.
Dominic caught his attention as he approached, getting close to the ring.
Onyx tensed, watching as the Bancroft witch held out a hand to him.
He glanced at Shane, whose expression was unreadable, before he went reluctantly to Dominic.
He ducked out of the ring and took his hand. “I need a shower,” he mumbled.
Dominic smiled at Onyx, lifting his other hand to brush some of his sweaty hair away from his face. “Then let's get you a shower,” he said. “Do you feel better?”
Onyx hesitated, then nodded. He was feeling better. Stronger. Less like he was going to crack down the middle and shatter all over again. “Yeah."
“Good,” Dominic said.
“Thank you,” Onyx told Shane before he moved, seeking out his gaze and wishing he could express just how grateful he was in that moment.
Shane gave Onyx a lopsided half-grin and tossed him one of the ever-present water bottles that he’d grabbed from the cooler on the side of the ring. He whistled a little off tune, too, like he was signaling that he got it.
Onyx grabbed the water bottle with his free hand and drank from it, tempted to up-end it over his head, but he’d be able to shower soon enough.
He wished he could shower right then, without Dominic right up on him, but he guessed the Bancroft witch had already given him as many allowances as he was going to that evening.
Dominic led him to the doors, then through the halls.
“Thank you,” Onyx said reluctantly when they got inside of Dominic’s room.
“You’re welcome.” Dominic smiled, tipping Onyx’s face up so he could drop a kiss on his lips. “Let me take the cage off, and then you can shower.”
The cage coming off meant that something sexual was probably going to ensue, and for a second, the cracks threatened to spread again.
He wasn’t ready for that. But Dominic had given him a reprieve by letting him spar with Shane, for all that he’d been quick to whisk Onyx off again after, and… and he guessed he didn’t have a choice.
Onyx undressed so Dominic could take the cage off, then asked, “Can I shower alone?” He braced himself for the expected no, but Dominic’s lips quirked into a smile.
“I’d expected that you were going to,” Dominic replied. “Go rinse off.”
Onyx let out a breath of relief, nodding quickly before heading off to the bathroom. He had a feeling Dominic wasn’t going to continue to be patient, so he quickly bathed before returning to the bedroom. Once there, though, he faltered.
Dominic had undressed and was sitting in bed, reading on his tablet.
Dominic, who would want more than he wanted to give.
Dominic, who was his master.
Tristan had called Dominic that, which was true enough in practice, he guessed; Onyx knew he was a slave. He wasn’t stupid. But he never, ever thought of Dominic that way.
What if he did? What if things changed? What if he did start to lose more of himself?
Setting the tablet aside, Dominic arched an eyebrow when Onyx hesitated instead of joining him in bed. “Come to bed,” he said.
This was where the fingers came into play, he guessed, even though he hadn’t agreed to it. But when had that ever stopped Dominic, really? He might act like he was dissuaded, but he never was. Not for long, not for real.
He slowly crossed the room, like he was going to his execution, and slid into bed beside Dominic. Maybe, if he was really lucky, Dominic would be too tired to start anything.
Dominic stroked Onyx’s cheek lightly before leaning in to kiss him. It stayed gentle at first before Dominic slowly deepened it. “Kiss me."
Some of Onyx’s resolve felt like it evaporated in the wake of that order, but he reminded himself that complying didn’t mean he was broken. It was only kissing. He could handle kissing. He had in the past, and he would have to in the future.
So instead of arguing, he kissed Dominic back.
Those cracks threatened to grow.
Dominic hummed approvingly as Onyx kissed him back, adding a little heat into the kiss before breaking it. “Get some sleep,” he murmured against Onyx’s lips, then adjusted in the bed so that he was lying down before gathering Onyx into his arms.
All of the kissing went straight to his cock, which never failed to get hard at the most inconvenient times, and Onyx was almost… disappointed when Dominic stopped kissing him and told him to get sleep. Not that the fingers hadn’t been used, but that he hadn’t been given any sort of relief.
Onyx let himself be pulled into Dominic’s arms, but he squirmed, too. He didn’t want to do anything with Dominic, not really, but he also didn’t want to go to bed like this.
Not enough to say anything about it, though. Instead, he settled in for yet another uneasy night within the cage of Dominic’s arms.