Master

by R Phoenix

  His pup looked at him, those familiar eyes sad and confused, but Caleb remained down on the doggy bed.

  Isaiah didn’t even glance at him, allowing Liam to show him to the largest of the guest rooms. The house was more spacious than it looked on the outside, picket fence and all, and he was glad for it then. He had it cleared out, but…

  “I would have had it freshened up if I had known you were coming tonight,” Liam said, a bit stiffly — still resenting the fact that his life had been intruded upon like it had.

  “It is no problem,” his sire said, but the coolness of his tone made it clear that was far from the truth.

  Liam bowed and left the man there, silently seething as he returned to the living room. “Come, Pup,” he ordered.

  Caleb got to all fours, no longer needing the aid of the bonds to keep him on the floor, and trotted with an odd sort of grace toward the back door. He was there ahead of Liam, where he waited, his head down.

  It was only then that Liam realized the pup was trembling. His jaw clenched. He was not the one who dealt with these things. This was firmly Zain’s territory. All he wanted was a pet, not to have to take care of these… needs.

  Especially not when he had to make guesses on what they were since their — his — pup didn’t even try to speak anymore. It was oddly bittersweet, something he’d both wanted and now disliked all at once, but he didn’t know what to do about it.

  It wasn’t as though he could speak to Isaiah about it, and Zain…

  Zain would thoroughly hate him for this, and for some damn reason, Liam actually cared about that.

  He opened the door, letting Caleb out and stepping onto the patio behind him. His pup did his business then brought back a squishy ball, offering it in his mouth while his tail wagged hopefully.

  Liam looked down at him, pursing his lips, then took the ball. “This is when Zain plays with you, yes?”

  Caleb looked at him, so little comprehension in his eyes that it felt like he was looking at something subhuman, even something subdog.

  Liam tossed the ball, and Caleb tore after it, grabbing it and bringing it back to him as he stood there. The sky was starting to show the first signs of lightening by the time his pup was panting in exhaustion, but he wasn’t ready to go back inside just yet.

  Instead, he touched his pup, looking for see some spark there, some recognition, and he didn’t even know why. The only time Caleb seemed like anything remotely resembling a man was when he had a cock buried in him, and even then, the twitching of his tail and the sprinkling of fur along his spine lessened those signs of humanity.

  “It is time to bathe,” Liam said, despite the fact that there was no reason to tell his pup anything.

  Caleb’s tail wagged half-heartedly at the word bathe, but he didn’t budge.

  Liam frowned. “Inside, pup.”

  Caleb didn’t move, letting out a pitiful whine.

  “You’ll have to stay outside all day if you don’t come in now,” Liam warned him. He glanced at the doghouse, which was far less comfortable than the doggie bed — or his own.

  Nothing.

  Liam debated leaving him out there to teach him a lesson, but he couldn’t muster up the desire to do it. Instead, he crossed to the patio and retrieved Caleb’s leash, hooking it to the collar then tugging lightly.

  At first, Caleb held his ground, but when Liam pulled more firmly, his pup stopped digging his heels in. He slunk along beside his master, shoulders low and his head bowed as he watched the ground instead of taking in his surroundings.

  It was odd, and Liam didn’t like it. But he didn’t know how to handle Caleb any longer, except by using force, and if that was the only thing he had at his disposal…

  Caleb wouldn’t leave his side once they ventured past the door, and the pup kept casting wary glances in the direction of the guest bedroom Isaiah was staying in. There were no sounds coming from the room, but Liam doubted his sire was asleep. His sire was a busy man, and the only thing that would lessen the blow of leaving his home turf was that he could continue to run his business for a distance.

  There were benefits of the digital age, certainly. The more the world turned to electronics, the easier it became for vampires to reclaim roles they may have lost during the Takeover due to their inability to stand in the sun.

  Instead of leading Caleb to the pup’s room and grooming tub, Liam brought him into his own room. When the door closed, his pup relaxed ever so slightly, but he still had to be tugged along instead of moving along at his usual happy trot.

  Liam grabbed him, wrinkling his nose at the sweaty, earthy smell of him, and put him in the tub. He looked helplessly down at his pet. Right. Zain usually let the water get warm before he put Caleb in it.

  Oh, this was ridiculous. He’d bathed others before. It wasn’t that difficult.

  There was just something so alien about Caleb’s responses that had him at a loss.

  “Back up,” he ordered, rolling up his sleeves and turning on the water. He eyed the mitts on Caleb’s hands but decided to leave them on instead of removing them. It wasn’t necessary, was it? Perhaps the next time.

  The water finally warmed to his liking, and Caleb relaxed into it a little. He moved trustingly into the stream of water when Liam took up the shower head, though he flinched back when the water got hotter.

  This had seemed easier before. Now it seemed like an incredibly daunting task.

  He had forgotten to grab Caleb’s soaps, but he used his own, finding he didn’t mind as much as he might’ve thought that his pet would smell like him. All the while, Caleb stayed quiet and still, none of the playful pushback he’d once displayed coming from him. It seemed like he was only a shell now that they were inside, the time they’d spent playing amounting to little in the wake of it.

  Liam rinsed him well, smoothing the water out of Caleb’s face then turning the shower off. He grabbed a towel and rigorously dried his pup off, lifting him out and onto the mat to finish. Caleb finally looked up at him again, but their eyes connected for only a second before the touch of humanity that had started to blossom vanished before it could fully bloom.

  Caleb followed him into the room but went immediately to his dog bed, only to pause when Liam spoke his name. His pup glanced again at him, warily hunching down again with his tail tucked between his legs like he’d done something wrong.

  Liam gritted his teeth. It was a human. Why was he so upset about a human’s behavior? It didn’t even make any sense.

  “Up on the bed,” he directed.

  Caleb hesitated before clamoring up to the makeshift steps he’d had put in so the pup could climb up when he was allowed. He automatically went to the foot of the bed, too. He was so well-trained that it felt like a travesty to resent the flawless behavior, but this silence and complete obedience bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

  “I must feed,” Liam told Caleb, and his pup crawled up next to him, tilting his head to offer access to his neck.

  Caleb let out a soft, human-sounding moan when fangs pierced his flesh, and as his rich blood rolled over Liam’s tongue, Liam felt relaxed for the first time since Isaiah had arrived. He gripped his pup tightly, almost painfully so. His body was warm, and Liam wanted to steal it away. Every sip of blood helped his own system return to a more natural temperature, and it took far less than it might with an ordinary human.

  That had been why he’d wanted Caleb, right there. That. Turning him into a pup had been a game, something new to do that he’d never done before, but now that he’d done it, it was boring all over again. He could have total obedience anywhere. What he wanted was a bit of fire, a bit of personality… and that seemed like it had been eradicated from his pup. Even the nourishment he gained didn’t seem as satisfying as usual.

  Liam finished feeding but refused to release the pup. “Shh,” he admonished when Caleb tried to wriggle away. “You sleep with Master tonight.”

  Caleb craned his neck, looking at him in utter c
onfusion before he settled down, cuddling up against Liam.

  “Sleep,” he ordered.

  Warmth against his front, Liam settled down as well, following his own command in seconds.

  Chapter Four:

  Zain

  “Idiot. Idiot.” He wasn’t even sure what he was doing there, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself.

  Standing by the fence, Zain fought the urge to look around and make sure no one was watching. The chances of a neighbor knowing that Liam had kicked him out were so slim it wasn’t worth worrying over, but that didn’t calm his nerves.

  Zain reached over the boards and felt for the latch, praying it wasn’t locked. Sometimes Liam forgot, and other times he obsessively checked it. Zain kept telling himself that even if it was locked, he might still be able to get a look at Caleb so he could check on him, but the rush of relief when the gate opened said it had been a lie.

  He needed to touch Caleb.

  He needed to pet his pup and make sure he was safe.

  He needed to talk to Caleb.

  But Zain had a feeling that would be the hard part. Maybe the stress of everything would have pulled Caleb from his role as a pup, but Zain thought it was more likely that Caleb would have withdrawn even more.

  As he entered the backyard, Zain closed the fence and gave the house a long look. There was a small, stupid part of himself that wanted to burst in and confront Liam.

  Zain was just glad he was smarter than that and had a bit more impulse control. He had a feeling the asshole vamp wouldn’t appreciate being woken up. Even though falling for a vamp was stupid, Zain had some self-preservation instincts.

  Just not many, according to Aggie.

  Zain wasn’t sure if he was angry or excited when he saw Caleb tied to a dog house in the backyard. Seeing his pup restrained like that was frustrating, but at least he was outside with shelter and shade. Caleb was curled up on what looked like a front porch of his new dog house. It was the biggest Zain had ever seen. It was like a small Southern mansion, even featuring a ceiling fan on the porch.

  Only Liam would go shopping for a dog house and come home with that.

  “There’s my pup.” Zain’s words had a still sleepy Caleb raising his head.

  It took Caleb a moment to hone in on him, his eyes still half-closed as he rested his head against the front door of the doghouse. When he registered Zain’s presence, though, he perked up, waking the rest of the way in an instant and barreling out toward him like a shot. Once the distance between them had closed, Caleb nudged his shins hard, shoving at his hand with his head, letting out distressed little doggy noises.

  Zain ran his hands over the pup’s head and squatted down to wrap his arms around Caleb. “I was so worried about you, pup.”

  Caleb nudged Zain’s shoulder with his nose, burying his face there and inhaling deeply like he was trying to take in as much of his scent as possible. For a moment, there was nothing human about him except his general shape, but then those eyes darted toward the house and his excited yips quieted down.

  The only signs of his utter pleasure were the way his tail was wagging and his tongue lolled slightly out of his mouth.

  Zain glanced around at the dog house and started questioning what he needed to do. Pulling Caleb back and making him confront the human side of himself seemed cruel when all that was waiting for him was a dog house and chain.

  As he petted Caleb’s head and let his hands caress over his back and down to his tail, Zain knew he didn’t have a choice. He needed to know what was happening in the house, and he needed to know what Caleb wanted.

  No matter what Aggie had said about Caleb just being property and not having a choice, that wasn’t how Zain saw it. Maybe it had been that way in the beginning between Liam and Caleb, but the angry, frustrated man that had been fighting against what he’d wanted had never asked Zain to let him go… and to Zain, that had said a lot.

  Turning so he could sit down on the porch of the dog house, Zain kept Caleb wrapped in his arms but started trying to find the human side that Caleb had been ignoring. “I need to talk to you, Caleb. I know you don’t want to, but it’s important, baby.”

  Caleb licked Zain’s arm, nuzzling the skin without care. There was no real comprehension in his eyes, though his ears flickered when he said “Caleb” — and again when he said “baby,” which had to be the sign of something right there.

  Didn’t it?

  But Caleb didn’t seem to want to talk. He curled up against Zain, his eyes closing. He relaxed contentedly in the embrace with a soft exhalation in breath, trying to curl up and take a nap in his arms. It seemed for all the world that Caleb was happy then, and Zain had to admit it was probably easier to handle all of this moment by moment, just like a puppy would, than it would be to handle the full weight of it.

  It didn’t matter. He had to get Caleb to talk to him.

  “Caleb,” he tried again.

  Caleb twitched, but he ignored Zain, ears dropping and his nose pushing harder against his skin.

  “Stubborn pup.” Zain wasn’t sure the best way to get the human side of Caleb’s attention, but he figured teasing him with something he wanted might be the best place to start. He let his hands continue to caress over Caleb’s back and tail, then started trailing them down his legs and up again around his tight hole and the soft cock that peeked between his legs.

  As Zain kept up the teasing touch, Caleb started to shift and his cock began to thicken, but the way his tail wagged as he pushed his ass into Zain’s hand said he was still very much in his pup headspace. After wrapping his hand around Caleb’s shaft and giving him a few slow strokes, Zain moved back to just petting his back and tail.

  Caleb gave a low whine and a frustrated bark when Zain refused to go back to playing with his cock, but Zain just shook his head. “No. If you want to come, then you have to talk to me first. Once we talk, I’ll make you feel incredible and give you everything you want, baby. But first we have to talk. Come on, Caleb. It’s people time now. You can be a pup again later.”

  There was so little recognition in Caleb’s expression that he wasn’t even sure the words were getting through. Had they gone too far without realizing it? It hadn’t seemed like Caleb had been pushed to that point, but then…

  If Liam had been leaving him out here in a glorified doghouse for the past few days, if he had just been treating him like a dog instead of a man, it could’ve fractured something that had already been delicate after the last round of modifications.

  Shit.

  Caleb whined again and shifted, trying to rub his cock against Zain’s leg instead.

  Zain reached down and gave it another too gentle stroke but pulled his hand back before Caleb could get too much out of it. “You know what you have to do if you get to come.” He cupped Caleb’s cheek and turned his head so he knew he had the pup’s attention. “I want to talk to you, Caleb. Then you get to come. I bet it’s been days since you were fucked or got to hump Liam, hasn’t it? Don’t you want to come, baby?”

  Zain was turning himself on just as much as he was getting Caleb wound up, but he needed something that the stubborn pup wanted enough to fight the role he was in. He ran one finger down Caleb’s shaft.

  “I know you want to come, baby. I miss talking to you, and I need your help, Caleb. Come on.”

  Caleb gave a slight shake of his head, almost just a bit of a toss of it. It was the first sign of something human in him even if it meant he was downright refusing to listen, refusing to obey. He turned, burying his face in between Zain’s legs and nosing at his cock, as though that would distract him.

  Zain chuckled. “Oh no, you’re not going to distract me.”

  Deciding Caleb needed more incentive to cooperate, he brought the hand that had been stroking Caleb’s tail to his needy hole. Giving it just enough pressure to breech Caleb’s body, Zain slowly fucked him with just the tip of his finger.

  Caleb moaned, a sound more human that puppy. He tried to t
hrust back to get more, but Zain just pulled his finger all the way out. “Naughty, Pup. You know what I want, Caleb. If you want more, you have to talk to me.”

  “No,” Caleb said, though it sounded more like a croak than an actual word. Just that quickly, he went back to nudging at Zain’s crotch, dragging his tongue along the shape of his hardening cock over his clothing and ignoring everything else.

  Progress.

  At least it was something, even though it wasn’t nearly what he’d been hoping for. It was enough to show him there was still something that wasn’t utterly feral — no, not feral, but all domesticated animal instead of a person — inside of him.

  “Yes, Caleb. I need you.” Zain let the words sink in as he pulled Caleb away from his crotch. He only had so much restraint, and Caleb seemed intent on testing every bit of it. “Talk first and then we’ll lay down and do whatever you want.” Holding him tightly so Caleb couldn’t look away or nuzzle Zain’s dick again, he pressed a kiss to Caleb’s stubborn lips. “Talk to me.”

  Tears welled up in Caleb’s eyes, and the pup stubbornly shook his head. There was, for only a moment, fear in his eyes, and he didn’t respond to the kiss. His eyes darted toward the back door, and even though the sun was still high in the sky, Zain felt a chill.

  Would Liam even protect him if his sire attacked?

  Well, at least they weren’t going to make their way through the sun-bathed backyard to get to him. He glanced down, disappointed to see that the collar and leash were padlocked together. They led to where the stake had been driven deep into the ground, and Zain considered pulling it free and getting Caleb the hell out of there. It shouldn’t have been hard. It was pinning down a human, not a supe…

  Refusing to back down, however, no matter if they were being watched or not, Zain focused back on Caleb. Looking at the dog house, he thought for a moment. It might work.

  “Come in here with me. Then we don’t have to worry.”

  Releasing Caleb, Zain crawled into the dog house and had to laugh. Liam had gone completely overboard. It wasn’t a dog house. It was some kind of pet condo for rich stupid people. One side had a thick cushion and another small ceiling fan made it a nice temperature. As he settled on the bed of the miniature house, he held out a hand to his pup.