“May… May I please… ask a question?”
“Yes, baby. You’re so good to ask permission.”
“Will it hurt when I come after waiting and being caged and—”
“Yes. I’ve heard it described as sharp and searing and impossible to tell if it’s pain or pleasure. But no matter how much it hurts, you’ll do it for me, won’t you?”
He nodded frantically. “Yes, want to… want to please you.”
“Good, don’t stop. And don’t hold anything back.”
His hand moved so fast it was nearly a blur. Seconds later, he let out a pained cry and cum shot from him, making a mess of his hand and his abdomen. “It’s… oh, God, I can’t…”
His cock jerked again and again. His hand never stopped moving until I could tell he was drained, and I said, “You can stop now, my human.”
His eyes had closed when he’d gone over, but he opened them and looked at me.
“Was it as painful as you feared?”
“Y-Yes, but so good too. I… thank you.”
To have him thank me after giving him so little when he’d taken such good care of me made my chest ache. I did enjoy making him suffer, and I knew he craved it, but I wanted him to know that I cared. I wetted a washcloth and handed it to him. He cleaned himself as he’d been told. It took him a few tries, but he managed to get the cage fitted around himself.
I could barely breathe as I watched him follow my instructions. He was exquisite, more than I’d ever hoped for, but I didn’t know how to express what I felt for him. Instead of trying to respond as a human would, I waved my hand so he would stay back and I let my wolf take over. Seconds later, I stood before him in wolf form.
“Wow,” he whispered. “That was amazing. Thank you for showing me this.”
I hoped he knew I could understand him. I wanted to tell him he could talk in a normal voice, that I wasn’t going to spook easily or anything. Of course, I’d been so eager to show him my wolf form that I hadn’t thought to communicate something like that.
He held out a tentative hand, and I sniffed it. I stayed still, not wanting to frighten him. Slowly he moved closer and began to pet me. “You’re just as gorgeous like this.”
I nuzzled him, rubbing my face on his naked thigh. My wolf was thrilled with his praise. When he stopped petting me, I turned and trotted out of the bathroom, hoping he would follow. I wasn’t disappointed. Once in his bedroom, I jumped up on the bed and curled up near the foot. He studied me for a moment. I jerked my head toward the bathroom, hoping to communicate that he should get ready for bed and join me.
“You want me to come to bed?”
I nodded. I didn’t lose all humanity when I became a wolf, but all the jumble of thoughts and the constant press of responsibility simply weren’t there. My thoughts were much simpler. I’d forgotten just how good that felt. It had been too long since I’d fully changed and relaxed in this form instead of using it to chase or threaten someone.
I heard the sound of water running and Emerson brushing his teeth. A few moments later he came back into the room. He pulled open a drawer and retrieved a pair of sleep pants. I gave a low growl.
He turned to face me and held out the sleep pants. “You don’t want me to wear these?”
I shook my head. He tossed them back in the drawer and came to bed naked, the way I’d told him to stay when we were together. He slid between the covers, turned on his side to face me, and laid a hand over my paw. The simple touch made my wolf feel more deeply relaxed than he had in weeks. I laid my head on top of Emerson’s hand. He watched me for a while, then his eyes slowly closed. Soon his breathing evened out, and I could tell he was asleep. I was thankful that he was comfortable enough around my wolf to fall asleep so easily. With a contented sigh, I tucked my snout underneath my leg and let sleep claim me too.
12
Emerson
I’d already innately known I trusted King, but having him shift in front of me and show me that, even in wolf form, he wouldn’t hurt me, made me care for him even more. As much as I’d been curious about how he’d look as a wolf—big and gray with the softest fur imaginable was the answer—I’d been nervous about whether he’d still be the King I knew when he took his animal form. But despite the wolfish mannerisms, I could tell by his scent and the way he looked at me that he was King. I would have known him as a wolf, even if I hadn’t seen the transition.
Lying in bed just watching him had felt magical, and knowing his wolf was protecting me helped me sleep far more soundly than usual.
When I woke the next morning, the bed was bathed in sunshine so bright, it was ages before I could fully open my eyes. King was no longer there. I listened carefully, but I didn’t hear him moving around. He was gone. I was sure of it. I could feel his absence. It seemed like every time he left me, I longed for him even more. Was this truly how people felt when they fell in love? If so, no wonder it drove people crazy.
Over the next several days, the intensity of my feelings never waned, nor did my desperate need for his dominance. Sometimes, he kept me locked in the cock cage all night, forcing me to focus only on his pleasure. Other times, he took it off me and brought me to a mind-shattering orgasm or two or three. No matter what, I knew he would torment me, but he would also hold me tenderly afterwards, soothing me as I came down from the high of submitting to him. But the one thing he seemed most reluctant to give was more quiet time to talk like we’d enjoyed the night I’d bathed him.
There were a few nights that he worked until the early hours of the morning, but occasionally he came home for a late dinner, wore my body out, and then slept curled around me. One morning when I woke up to find him still in bed with me, I pressed back against him and ran my fingers up and down the arm he’d slung over my waist. He didn’t move, but I could tell he was awake. His body had lost the fully relaxed quality it only had when he slept. “King?”
“Hmmm?” His voice was soft and sleepy.
“Stay with me today.”
“The whole day?” He used his free hand to give my morning wood a few slow strokes. “Are you greedy for more?” I groaned and pressed back against him, rubbing the seam of my ass against his own hard cock.
“Yes, but more than that, I just want to spend some time with you. You know, talk, have breakfast, do regular people things.”
“Regular people things?”
“Like go out to lunch, go to a movie, or shop for things we don’t need.” Or in my case, couldn’t afford.
“I’ve done all those things, but these days I do them only rarely.”
“So you just work and fuck submissives until they collapse after the most devastating orgasms ever imagined?”
He chuckled, his warm breath teasing my neck. “Something like that.”
“So take a day off.”
“I don’t get days off.”
“You’re your own boss, aren’t you?”
He sighed. “It’s not that simple.”
“What if today you pretended it was?”
I felt his chest expand as he took a long, slow breath. “Does this mean a lot to you, Emerson?”
“Yes. I know there’s some mysterious business you don’t want to tell me about that’s putting everyone in danger, but I want to spend time with you, I want…” I hesitated to say more.
“What do you want, Emerson? Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“I won’t be punished?”
He squeezed me tightly against him. “You will never be punished for telling me what you want, only for breaking rules that I’ve set.”
“I want more from you, more than just the sex and the pain. Not that they’re not incredible, because they are, but I like you.” Shit. Why the hell did I say that? “I mean, I… I like being with you, not just when you’re making me insane with need.”
He nuzzled my hair and kissed the outer edge of my ear, then my neck and shoulder. “I like being with you too. I’ll need a bit of time to rearrange some things, but y
ou’re right. I should be able to occasionally take a day off. Why don’t you make us some coffee, and I’ll think about some regular people things we can do and get my schedule cleared.”
I turned over to look at him, not believing he’d truly agreed to my suggestion. “You’re serious?”
“Questioning me will get you punished.”
I bit my lip, trying not to smile, but I couldn’t hold it back. “Thank you. I’ll be good. I promise.”
King explained that for safety’s sake we needed to avoid certain parts of the city. But he did have a place he wanted to take me for lunch and an idea for something we could do afterwards. “Would it ruin your plan if we came back here and watched a movie instead of going to a theater?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. As long as I’m with you and we get to spend time together, it doesn’t really matter what we do.”
“Then we’ll go out to lunch, I’ll show you a place I think you’d love, and then we’ll come home where I will order food from one of my favorite restaurants, and we’ll watch movies together.”
“That sounds amazing. Thank you, King.”
“No, thank you for suggesting this. Spending the day with you is exactly what I need right now.” He brushed my hair back from my face, and I closed my eyes, breathing deeply, enjoying the scent of him and the soft touch of his fingers.
King directed his driver to take us to an address in Chinatown. She let us out at a busy corner. The street was filled with cars, bicycles, and pedestrians and lined with carts selling all manner of food and other goods. “Where are we going?”
“A very special place, which I’ve only ever shared with my siblings.”
King took my hand and led me down the street. I was thankful that he anchored me, because I was distracted by the crowd, the bright colors, shouts coming from the various street vendors, and all the signs in the windows.
After walking a few blocks, King stopped in front of a door that had nothing on it to indicate the nature of the business. “Is this it?”
My skepticism must have been obvious to him, because he said, “Trust me.”
My breath caught as he looked at me with what had to be love in his eyes. “I do.”
He opened the door, and we stepped inside. There were a few tables, most of which were filled with customers, and a small counter at the back of the space. It was far brighter and lovelier inside than I would ever have guessed from the dingy windows and nondescript door.
“Ahh, Mr. King,” an older woman called as she stepped out from the back room.
“Ms. Liu, it is excellent to see you again.” King was soft-spoken here, not the growly, aggressive man I was used to.
“It’s been far too long since you have been in. I’d begun to worry you didn’t like me anymore.”
“That could never happen.”
She huffed. “At least you could never stop loving my dumplings.”
“True, but you know I come here just for you.”
“He’s a charmer, this one,” she said, looking at me.
“He certainly is.”
She turned back to King. “The usual?”
“Yes, and the same for my friend. Ms. Liu, this is Emerson.” He swept his hand toward me.
She looked me up and down and then smiled. “You are good for him.”
“I hope so.”
“He’ll challenge you,” she told King. “And you must meet those challenges.”
How did she know that?
“You’re just as wise as always, I see,” King said.
She snorted. “This time you must listen, not ignore me as usual.”
“You have my word that I will.”
“Good. Find yourself a seat, and I will bring your dumplings out.”
King chose a table situated against the wall close to the counter. “What’s your usual?”
“An assortment of the best dumplings in the city, or perhaps in the world.”
I glanced around at other tables, noticing the array of interestingly shaped steamed buns on the customers’ plates.
“I’ve only ever had dumplings like these that were frozen.”
King looked horrified. “Don’t let Ms. Liu hear you mention such a thing.”
“I won’t. How long have you been coming here?”
“Since I was much too young to be wandering this far from home by myself.”
I imagined King as a boy exploring the city, discovering interesting places and people. “Do you ever just wander now?”
“No, but I have a feeling you’re going to encourage me to.”
“I am, especially if you bring me along.”
A few moments later, Ms. Liu brought out our dumplings, and they were as amazing as King had said. Each type I tried seemed better than the last. I couldn’t possibly have picked a favorite. “They’re like little clouds filled with heavenly goodness.”
King laughed, looking brighter and more relaxed than I’d ever seen him. “That’s an apt description.”
When we’d finished eating and were about to leave, Ms. Liu came over to our table.
“Thank you,” I said. “The dumplings were amazing.”
She beamed at me and then turned to King. “See. He likes my dumplings too. This is the one for you.”
“That may be the best advice you’ve ever given me.”
Did he mean that? That I was good for him, that I was right for him? I wanted to be. I knew I’d been essentially living a fantasy for the last several days. Someday I would have to face the reality that I had no home and no job, but being with King made it easy to put that off. What if I could stay with him forever?
Yes. That’s exactly what you need. I wanted to listen, but that voice inside my head was just as divorced from reality as the rest of me. I banished that depressing thought. I was going to enjoy this day—and at least a few more—before I forced myself to break away from this fantasy.
After lunch, King took me for a walk in a nearby park. It was filled with late summer flowers that attracted birds and the last butterflies we’d see until spring. The whole place seemed alive with color and the flutter of wings. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t a place I would’ve pictured King. Once we were there, though, I saw how right it was for him. He liked nature and beautiful things. When he was away from the pressure of work and family, he could relax and indulge in more simple pleasures.
As we walked, we asked each other questions, like our favorite foods—dumplings, steak, and cherry pie for King and lasagna and lemon cake for me—and favorite books—I chose Sense and Sensibility and King attempted to change the subject before reluctantly admitting to being a huge Harry Potter fan.
“If you could be human instead of a shifter, would you?” I asked.
“No. Despite all the prejudice and the shit I deal with every day, I love being able to take my wolf form. I would never give that up.”
I took a moment to revel in how open and honest he was being with me. If only he’d be that way about everything in his life.
“What about you?” King asked. “If you could be a shifter, would you?”
I considered that. I’d always been fascinated by shifters. Would I want to be one, to take on an animal form? “I think so, yes. It would be incredible to experience being in the form of another animal, to see and move as they do.”
“One day, I’ll take you into the forest with me, and we can run and play with me in my wolf form.”
The thought of him showing off as a wolf for me made me smile. “I would love that.”
“Good. Do you have a favorite musical?”
Hadn’t he surprised me enough today? “You like musicals?”
He shrugged. “What’s not to like?”
I’d found a gorgeous-as-fuck alpha werewolf who liked dominating me and watching musicals? I had to be dreaming. “Les Mis.”
King gave me the biggest smile I’d seen from him yet. “That’s mine too. When the present situation with the lion shifters is under con
trol, I promise to take you.”
“That would be incredible.” I’d only ever seen it from way up in the balcony, but I had a feeling King only got the best seats in the house. And to watch it with him, to hold his hand when I was overwrought with emotion, what could be better? “The danger your family is in, is it because of the lions?”
King frowned. “Let’s not talk about danger now. I want to enjoy this day with you.”
I didn’t like his response, but I respected it. By the time we returned home, I was practically drunk on my feelings of love and joy. I wished King never had to return to his reality and I never had to return to mine.
I’d eaten so many dumplings I wasn’t sure I’d ever be hungry again, but after King decided we needed to take a break from talking and treated me to a round of rough, merciless, all-consuming sex, I realized I was starving.
He ordered steaks for us, and we ate them in front of the TV in the living room of the guesthouse. He indulged my taste for rom-coms and old black and white movies, and we stayed there snuggled against each other until I fell asleep on him. I woke as he was carrying me to bed.
He smiled at me as I blinked sleepily at him. “Emerson, this has been the best day I’ve spent in years. Thank you.”
My heart couldn’t have been fuller. “I wish we could do it again tomorrow.”
“So do I, but that’s impossible. I have too much work to take care of, and it was a risk to take you out in public. I can’t repeat that, not until I take care of the problem with the lion shifters.”
“Can you please tell me more about this danger, about why you have to protect me?”
He shook his head. “It’s just shifter family bullshit. The less you know, the better off you are.”
“I want to be here for you, King, I want to listen when you need someone to talk to. Like I said this morning, I want this to be more. I want to be…” What? His boyfriend? His partner? The very idea seemed ridiculous.
He brushed his fingers across my cheek. “You are my everything. And that is why I can’t risk you.”
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