Just the thought of that—of how close she’d come to dying—filled him with protective rage which he swallowed down only with difficulty.
Neh’sa sighed. “I’m afraid that Yonnite society is…complicated when it comes to such matters. Technically because her slave was injured in my domicile, she can charge me and possibly bring other grievances against me as well.” She shook her head. “I’ll find out what she’s cooked up with her barrister later on, no doubt. But for now if you could please just get him out of here?”
“That’s the plan,” Thorn growled. “Your butler went to call for a transport.” The idea of the other Mistress bringing legal charges against Neh’sa still angered and frustrated him, but as much as he found himself wanting to protect her, there was nothing he could do about it.
“Thank you, Thorn,” Neh’sa said gravely. She rose and hesitated for a moment before laying a gentle hand on his cheek. “And thank you for saving me. That’s twice you’ve come to my rescue and I haven’t even owned you a whole solar day yet.”
As always, her touch made his shaft rise and harden. Gods, she was beautiful!
“It was my pleasure, Mistress,” he said gruffly. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek as well—the wounded one—tenderly in his palm. “She hit you pretty hard here—are you all right?”
“No, Thorn…” Gently but firmly she removed his hand from her face and brought it back to his side. “The first rule you must learn—a body-slave is never allowed to touch his Mistress unless she tells him to.”
Thorn frowned. “Oh, but you can touch me whenever you want?”
“Yes,” she said simply and smiled that maddening smile at him. “Don’t worry—we’ll go over the rules later when everyone is gone and I have time to do a more thorough inspection. For now, though, I need to go speak to Lady Tandy and Lo’im.”
She glided away and he watched her for a minute, his shaft throbbing, before going back to the task of heaving the heavy Clopsian to his feet and getting him out of the domicile.
At last with the help of the butler and all the house droids, the job was finally accomplished. The massive beast was deposited in a transport headed back to Lady Wraith’neck’s domicile and Neh’sa’s home was safe again.
With a sigh of relief, Thorn went to find his new Mistress. He wanted to ask her what exactly she had meant by “inspection” and what the rules about who could touch who were. But when he finally located her, in her office, she was speaking quietly and intensely with Lady Tandy alone.
Thorn stood outside the door, watching the two females through the crack, thinking that he shouldn’t eavesdrop—he should just go back to her bedchamber and wait for her there. Lo’im was nowhere to be found—it was just Neh’sa and Lady Tandy in her office so it was clearly a private conversation. But then he heard something which made him stop, watch, and listen.
“Here,” Neh’sa said, pressing something into the younger Mistress’s hand. “If you wish to let Lo’im finish inside you, you must have him take these first. They’ll alter his seed so that only female children will result if you should…”
“If I should get pregnant?” Lady Tandy’s blue eyes widened and her voice sank to a whisper. “Lady Neh’sa, are you sure it’s all right to…to want this? To want to let my body-slave penetrate me?”
“The love between a male and a female is their own business,” Neh’sa told her firmly. “As a Mistress, you must do what you feel is right for you. I’m not advising you either way—I’m only giving you the means to have what you want without fear of retribution. If you and Lo’im should make love without protection and you conceive a male child, everyone will know you didn’t go to the conception center to be artificially inseminated.”
Lady Tady bit her full lower lip.
“I do want to let him penetrate me,” she admitted softly. “I…I’ve wanted it from the first. I don’t know why I have such perverted desires.”
“Nothing consensual is perverted,” Neh’sa said, lifting her chin. “And you’re planning to penetrate him too—why is this different?”
“I don’t know…” Lady Tandy looked down at the small packet of pills Neh’sa had given her and then looked up again. “Thank you for…for understanding and not judging me. You’re the only one in Opulex I could have told my secret to.”
“I’m happy to help you, my dear.” Neh’sa pressed her hand gently. “I’m just sorry that your Devotion Ceremony was ruined by the scuffle.”
“It wasn’t ruined, honestly it wasn’t,” Lady Tandy told her earnestly. “The ceremony itself was beautiful. And what happened afterwards, well…” She gave a little laugh. “Let’s just say it’s a memory Lo’im and I will never forget.” She sighed. “I just hope Lady Wraith’neck doesn’t make things too difficult for you now.”
“Don’t worry about me—you and Lo’im just go and enjoy yourselves and have a beautiful life together.” Neh’sa smiled at her and started to rise.
Thorn, who had been watching silently, completely mesmerized by the forbidden conversation, moved hurriedly out of the way. He barely got back across the large living area to the door of the bedchamber before he heard Neh’sa calling his name.
Turning, he tried to pretend he hadn’t overheard her conversation. He kept his face blank though his mind was whirling.
“You know we don’t do that on Yonnie Six,” Neh’sa had told him when they had been speaking about penetration on her ship—specifically of him penetrating her. Well, apparently they did do that here on Yonnie Six—some of the Mistresses anyway. And it was obvious that Neh’sa was helping them do it.
Lady Wraith’ neck’s angry accusations came back to him.
“We all know what kind of business you’re running here!”
Was this what she had been talking about? But why would Neh’sa go against her society’s beliefs to do something which was not only unconventional but very probably illegal? And how did she feel about being penetrated herself?
A sudden image came to him—his petite, curvy Mistress with her long dark hair spread out on the pillow and her thighs open wide for him. He could almost see her beckoning to him, her soft folds glistening with her honey—hot and wet and perfect. He would cover her small body with his own larger, harder one and sink his shaft to the root in her tight, welcoming pussy…
“Did you hear me, Thorn?” Neh’sa’s voice drew him out of the illicit fantasy.
“Hmm?” He blinked and looked up to see her frowning.
“You need to pay better attention—a good body-slave is always attuned to his Mistress’s words,” she lectured softly. “I said it’s time for your bath and inspection.”
Chapter Seven
The bathing room was the best money could buy, Neh’sa had seen to that. There was almost nothing she liked more than a long soak so she’d made certain that the tub she had installed was almost large enough to swim in. The large size came in handy now since Thorn was so big and muscular.
Neh’sa drew a steaming bath and had him strip out of the tattered leather trousers. As he did, she observed that his wounds from the razor-gravel were almost completely healed. Even with her healing touch that was surprising. He’d told her that Kindred healed fast but this was really quite amazing. She was glad though—glad he was no longer in physical pain, even though he swore it didn’t bother him.
She hadn’t been sure at first about buying him but the big Kindred body-slave had really proved his worth, she had to admit. She’d be dead if he hadn’t saved her from both the Clopsian and the deadly Banta fish. But though he had charged to her rescue, she couldn’t allow him to have the upper hand. An Alpha body-slave was a rare thing and could be very useful—as long as the Mistress in question was strong enough to keep him in check.
I’ve got to get a handle on him now, she thought, watching as he lowered his long, muscular form into her soaking-pool tub. I have to bring him in line before he gets completely out of hand.
“Gods, this feels good,” Thorn murmu
red, letting himself sink down in the water. His eyes closed and he sighed in contentment.
Neh’sa couldn’t help noticing he had extraordinarily long lashes for a male. It made his hard features look vulnerable somehow when they were relaxed, as they were now.
“Do you have any hair-cleaner?” he rumbled. “Think I might have gotten some of that big bastard’s blood in my hair. Need to wash it.”
“I’ll be washing you tonight, Thorn,” Neh’sa said firmly. “Your hair and your entire body. You’re not to do a thing.”
“Huh?” His mismatched eyes flew open and he frowned. “That’s nice of you, Mistress but I really don’t need—”
“What you need or want doesn’t enter into it,” Neh’sa told him, holding his eyes with her own. “I own you now, Thorn, and I’m going to take care of you. Later on you may be allowed to wash yourself but for tonight I want to take thorough stock of you.”
His eyes hardened. “You want to catalog your new property, Mistress? That right?”
“I want to know your body as I know my own,” Neh’sa corrected him, dipping a bio-synthi sponge into the water and squeezing until it produced some warm, fresh-smelling suds. “I want to know any place you have aches or pains, any place I should pay special attention to, any problem areas. That’s all part of being a good Mistress.”
“You keep saying that,” he murmured, watching as she began to soap the flat planes of his muscular chest and the round copper disks of his nipples. “About being a good Mistress. I didn’t think there was such a thing on Yonnie Six.”
“You thought we were all like Lady Wraith’neck, did you?” Neh’sa gave him a smile and she sponged his broad shoulders.
“I guess so.” He watched in apparent bemusement as she held one of his hands in hers and soaped down his shoulder and thick bicep, then stroked over his forearm and palm. He flexed his fingers slightly and she couldn’t help noticing how much bigger his hand was than hers. Physically she was no match for him—none at all. She would have to dominate him in other ways. Well, that wouldn’t be a problem once she established her authority.
“So if you thought all Yonnite Mistresses were cruel, why did you beg me to buy you?” she asked, finishing the other arm and starting on his abdomen.
For a moment she thought she saw a look flit across his face—was it guilt? She wished for a moment she could feel other emotions than pain but her empathy was limited. Then he gave her an intense look from half-lowered green and blue eyes.
“I told you why I asked you to buy me,” he growled softly. “It’s because you make me react.” He nodded down between his thighs where his shaft had risen, long and hard, to hover over his tensed abdominal muscles. “I’ve never had a female do that to me—make me react against my will.”
His words made Neh’sa smile. The loss of control, which he seemed so worried about, was also the reason he’d wanted her to take him on as a body-slave. Maybe his training wouldn’t be quite as complicated as she’d feared. Deep down she was certain the big Kindred needed to lose control—to let himself open up in a way he probably never had before.
“That’s good,” she murmured, squeezing the sponge so that a warm stream of lather showered down onto his broad chest. “And speaking of making you react, I need you to spread your thighs for me and let me wash you.”
“As my Mistress wishes,” he rumbled, his eyes growing heavy-lidded and hot as the sparks in them danced faster.
“Very good.” Neh’sa smiled at him and leaned over the tub to reach him. Deliberately, she allowed her full breasts to dip into the bath water which soaked two spots right over her nipples as she scrubbed his long shaft gently with the soapy sponge. She watched Thorn watching her, his eyes taking in the way her green robe gaped open, showing her breasts and the now dripping nipples, and didn’t make any move to cover herself.
Why am I doing this? Why am I making his training sexual before I bring in a body substitute? She didn’t know—she only knew it felt right.
“Fuck, Mistress,” Thorn groaned softly, eyeing her exposed nipples. “You’re beautiful—you know that?”
“Thank you, Thorn,” she murmured. Tease and denial was an important part of her training program. Though, she usually waited until she had the female body substitute to begin it, this was a good start.
She didn’t actually use her hand on him—not yet—that would come later. But she did clean thoroughly with the sponge around his shaft and balls before reaching lower between his legs.
Thorn stiffened and started to pull his thighs together but Ne’sah shook her head. “No, I have to wash you everywhere,” she told the big Kindred firmly.
“But I don’t like—”
“You don’t know what you like,” Neh’sa corrected him gently. “But I’m going to teach you. We’re going to find out together. Now keep your legs open and let me wash you, Thorn.”
He squirmed uncomfortably but did as he was told, relaxing visibly when she finished with that area and moved on to washing his legs and feet. By the time she had him sit up so she could scrub his broad back, he was a little more at ease. And by the time Neh’sa washed his hair, he was almost asleep under her hands.
Good, he would need to learn to take both pain and pleasure from her touch, especially if they were going to push some of his limits to make him a good body-slave.
Neh’sa got him out and dried him off with a large, fluffy red towel, before leading him naked to her fitting room. It was a round area with viewers on every wall and rows and rows of drawers. She opened one to reveal a velvet lined cushion with several different leather collars on it.
Thorn eyed them dubiously.
“Is one of those for me? Did I already earn my collar?”
“By saving me, you mean? No.” Neh’sa shook her head. “You earn your collar by being obedient.”
“All right.” He nodded. “Then why are we here?”
“For these.” Opening another drawer, Neh’sa took out what she wanted—two thick bracelets made of dull copper metal. As she fastened them around his wrists, Thorn looked on with a frown.
“Are these some kind of pain manacles?”
Neh’sa nodded. “In a manner of speaking.”
“What? But I thought you didn’t believe in using agony nerve-conduction,” he protested.
“These will only shock you if you try to touch yourself.” Neh’sa nodded down at his still-erect shaft. “Go on—try it.”
Frowning, he reached for his shaft, only to give a hiss of pain and yank his hand away when his fingertips made contact.
“Gods! That hurts!”
Neh’sa resisted the urge to laugh. “I know you said you don’t care about pain but I’m guessing you care enough not to want to be shocked in that particular area.”
“Of course I don’t want to be shocked there.” He glared at her. “What’s the point of these things anyway?”
“To keep you from stroking yourself and coming, of course,” Neh’sa murmured. “Your orgasms, like your body, belong to me now, Thorn. You won’t be allowed to come until I say so and until you learn to submit and mind your manners, your orgasms are going to be very few and far between.”
“That’s not very fucking fair,” he growled. “Especially when you know you drive me crazy, Mistress.”
“Do I?” Smiling, she slipped out of the deep green robe—which was still wet across the front—and opened another drawer to get a different one—red this time. She watched Thorn’s eyes devour her hungrily—her full curves uncovered except for a thin pair of lace panties—before she belted the new robe around her waist. She liked those mismatched eyes on her—liked them possibly too much.
“You know you do,” he said hoarsely. “I feel like I’ve been hard for a fucking week already, Mistress and you just bought me today.”
“Then you’d better take to your training quickly,” Neh’sa pointed out. “And you can start by coming into the training room.”
She led him, naked except
for the non-contact bracelets, into an adjoining room which was a perfect octagon. The eight walls were lined with equipment including a spanking bench, a whipping post, an agony cross to tie slaves to while she punished them, and a cage for confinement. The red velvet walls were covered in hooks and brackets which held various instruments of torture from floggers to whips to canes to electrified Branthian pain wands.
Thorn’s mismatched eyes widened as he took in all her equipment.
“Good thing I don’t mind pain,” he remarked dryly.
“Actually, it’s going to make your training somehow difficult for me,” Neh’sa told him. “Since most of my usual equipment won’t make any impression on you. However…” She shrugged. “I’ll find other ways. And besides, you aren’t here to be punished tonight. As I said earlier, I just want to inspect you.”
She led him over to the center of the room, opposite the 3-D viewer, and brought out a kneeling bench that consisted of leg rests without a seat. Adjusting it to the right height, she instructed the big Kindred to settle on the bench which supported his shins and the backs of his thighs while leaving his ass, shaft, and the rest of his body exposed.
Thorn settled onto the bench well enough, which put his large, muscular body within reach for Neh’sa—a must since she was so petite and he was so huge. He didn’t seem discomforted until she used a hook to pull some chains with leather cuff manacles down from the ceiling and fastened his hands over his head. But when she also cuffed his ankles to similar chains coming up from the floor, he began to get restive.
“Why are you doing this?” he demanded. “I can hold still no matter what you do to me. I have enough control.”
“I know you can,” Neh’sa said soothingly. “But I want you to let go of some of that control—give it to me for a little while, Thorn. You have so much tension inside you—so much pain. There are two ways to release it— through pleasure or through pain. The question is, can you do it? Can you let yourself release?”
She walked around to the front of him and cupped his face, scratchy with stubble, in both hands. Normally she liked her slaves shaved clean but in Thorn’s case she decided she would leave him as he was—she rather liked the roughness against her palms.
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