by Treva Harte
"I put him in your guest bedroom, Mistress. I hope that wasn't the wrong thing to do. But he needs to be kept still for a bit."
"What—” Arness followed Dorinda and Primary down the hall to where she always stayed while visiting.
Amongst the fine ruffles and linen on the bed, Secondary lay, huddled and unnaturally quiet. Arness gathered her composure again. More upset wasn't going to help matters here. She walked forward to see what wounds Secondary had.
When she saw, she gasped.
"Who in perdition did this to you?" Arness demanded.
Secondary shook his head slightly and winced.
"He won't say," Primary explained.
What had Secondary gotten himself into? Arness gently touched one of the still oozing gashes and winced herself. They looked extraordinarily painful.
"What's going on here?" Morgena arrived in the bedroom, wearing a brocaded purple dressing gown, looking rumpled and annoyed. Six followed at her heels.
"I don't know yet." Arness scowled. "No one seems interested in explaining."
Morgena bent over the bed.
"Ha!" She turned to the crowd who had gathered outside the door. "The rest of you, clear out. Dorinda, fetch me some salve. Primary, get some hot water and clean cloth."
Six looked at her.
"Oh, you can stay, pet. Go to the corner and keep quiet." She touched Six's hair briefly, tenderly, then pushed him much more roughly toward the corner.
Sudden quiet reigned. Morgena looked at Secondary's back and shook her head, saying nothing.
"Why in Goddess' name won't you tell me who did this and what happened?" Arness demanded.
"Please, no, Mistress," Secondary whispered.
Morgena held her hand up and Secondary stopped.
"I was afraid of trouble. Not this bad, but it's no surprise." Morgena looked at Arness. "Don't you understand?"
"Understand what?"
"He won't tell you who did this to him—and curse the clumsy oaf who didn't know what she was doing—because he wanted this. He was whipped because your boy is a pain-pleasurer."
* * * * *
"I'll go with you, Mistress." Primary disposed of the bloody water in the basin with tight lips. "He won't be able to travel for another day or two."
"No. You'll do what I wanted you to do in the first place. D'you think I'm incapable of handling two captures alone? I was taking Secondary mostly to keep him out of trouble."
Primary lowered his eyes respectfully.
"As you wish, Mistress."
"I thought I knew my pets inside and out." Arness voiced the thing that she was truly upset over. "I missed the signs entirely with Secondary."
"How could you know? He always did what you wished for sex, Mistress. He admires you too much to tell you he had additional urges." Primary still kept his eyes lowered.
"But you knew, didn't you. Just like Morgena did."
"He had no need to conceal himself from me, Mistress. He doesn't want to earn my approval."
"Nonsense. He respects you."
"Not the way he does you."
"He'd lie to me about his sexual needs because he respects me so much?" Arness cinched the belt a little tighter on her waist. "Nonsense."
"Truth, Mistress."
Curse Adan. Now she had a new question. The stupid thought never would have come to her head without his drivel.
"Do you lie to me about what you want, Primary?"
"Mistress?" Primary's head snapped up. "I want what you want. That's how most men are. We need to obey."
"Truly? Or have you been taught to think and say that?" Arness paused, not wanting to continue this discussion but unable to stop.
"I don't understand."
"Never mind." Arness whistled to the two captures who had been brought up for her. "It's not important."
Primary stood, frowning, as he watched Arness make the two ready for travel.
"Hey, there, my pets. No need to feel downhearted about not being selected first thing. It's not your fault this patroness has particular requirements. I expect good things from both of you, understand?" She crooned to the two of them.
Primary ignored the uneasy feeling he had about leaving her on her own. She was right. She'd have no trouble with her captures on the way. They were already under her spell, both listening intently, eager to begin the journey with her alone.
Still, it just didn't feel right, not being there to protect her. But then again, he shouldn't put his own judgment above hers. Primary touched his collar as he pondered, torn between his conflicting urges.
And what did she mean by such odd questions?
* * * * *
"Come on then." One of the other pets shook Four awake, roughly. "A convoy of females are coming to be bred."
Four sat up, bewildered from sleep. He promptly cracked his head on the bunk above him and howled. The other pet roared with laughter.
"Best hope you don't get a lump on your head. No woman wants a pet with a swelling there." He hit him on the shoulder. "Save your swellings for other places, Capture."
"Females?" Four asked, shaking his head.
"Yeah. This is your lucky day, Capture. Sometimes we have to wait weeks before the next group shows up. But one may pick you this morning and then you'll be initiated in the delights of being a breeder pet."
"What if not picked?" Four felt desperation wash over him. He had some idea what delights awaited him and wanted to know them more fully.
"You may have to wait still longer. Worse yet, Martine may get you first. The ranch women are supposed to wait for the paying guests' leavings, but if Martine wants you she'll have you. You'll know better than to tell." For a moment the other man looked fearful and then he laughed. "Look your best, Capture."
Four stared down. Traces of oil still clung to his body, glistening. The mistresses had seemed to like it on him. He touched his forehead carefully. It hurt but there was no lump yet. He hoped he'd look well enough.
"Hurry up, sluggards!" Dorinda entered the bunkhouse and clapped her hands impatiently. Four was pleased that he could follow everyone's words. He was becoming better at the mistress' language. The impatience also told him how urgently she wanted them to move. "They're here!"
Four saw men hastily clutching and rubbing their genitals as they ran for the door. Most deliberately unrolled their leggings, letting their pants ride low. Many were already displaying prominent erections. Four hastily began to stroke himself under his breechcloth. He wasn't going to be left behind or taken by Martine—apparently a bad fate, though being used by any woman sounded wonderful to him at the moment.
* * * * *
"Patroness!"
There were some thumps. A breathless laugh. Then came a long pause.
"What now?" Morgena's distinctly irked voice came from the bedroom. "Can't the household be run for a few hours without my help?"
Dorinda tapped her fingers on the doorframe but knew better than to try to enter right then. The patroness hated to be interrupted when she had a new pet. Instead Dorinda spoke loudly to the closed door.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, but it's your daughter. She's arrived with a group of women wanting to be bred."
"Perdition! Give me a few minutes. Go entertain her, see her trunks are taken to her room. You, lad, help me with my dress."
"As if I didn't know how to do my job." Dorinda sniffed and made her way down the stairs to the hall.
What the patroness needed was fewer pets and more vibrators. Dorinda had long since decided sex toys required far less effort than captures. Not that males weren't worth a few bouts now and then once they were properly seasoned, but for a quickie in the daytime, nothing worked like her own favorite mechanical wand.
Dorinda walked down the stairs to the hall as quickly as one could if one wished to remain dignified.
"Dorinda!"
"Mistress Salla," Dorinda inclined her head. "How delightful to see you again! You're grown into quite the gentlewoman. Pleas
e sit down and rest while I get you something to eat and drink."
"Mama won't see me?"
"She will very soon, Mistress. She's had an unavoidable delay."
Vibrators really were the answer. Dorinda kept thinking about how much more quickly the patroness could have been refreshed. Quick enough that Patroness Morgena would have been in the hall now herself, greeting her own daughter. The daughter who suddenly looked desolate.
* * * * *
"I'm nervous," Tanja whispered to her friend.
"You've had pets before."
"Not ones like these," Tanja murmured, looking at the rows of males before her. There were so many hard muscles and harder cocks. They were all blonde, all huge, all with eyes cast down as the women cooed and patted and looked over the lines. The pets waited quietly, letting the women touch and discuss what they would. Only their twitching erections showed the pets' eagerness. "Not one that I had to decide would be the right male to father a child."
Nara licked her lips. "I'm only here for fun and to help split the cost of a top-flight pet. But I could be nervous too, if I let myself think about how big these brutes are."
She leaned forward to tickle the head of one cock with her finger. The pet braced himself but grunted at her touch.
"Oh, look! He really is ready!" Nara held up one glistening drop of cum.
"Maybe too ready," another woman said. "You want a good long sweaty ride before he breaks."
The other woman went down the line, prodding and stroking.
Nara was ready to turn to someone else but Tanja saw the pet look up just then. He met her eyes. The intensity of need he showed in his face dried her throat. He hastily lowered his gaze again.
"Wait." Tanja held her friend’s wrist. "I might want this one."
The pet slumped his shoulders in abject obedience now. Tanja moved closer and paused, intrigued.
"Look, he has no collar!" She ran a finger over his neck. The pet seemed to stop breathing.
The woman named Dorinda moved forward and murmured, "He's new, mistress. We haven't had time to fit him with one. Also, we usually don't allow a capture the honor of such a symbol until he's had his first female."
"He's not had a woman before?"
"None that we know of. He was just brought to the ranch yesterday."
"Ohh." Tanja realized she was even more intrigued. "He's practically a wildling, then."
"If he's new, you don't know his potential as a breeder, Tanja," Nara warned. "We can't afford to visit here more than once in a great while."
"Should a mistress fail to breed she is welcome to return again for one reduced price visit." Dorinda spread open her hands.
Tanja forced the pet's chin up with his fingers. He lowered his eyelids against her gaze but she saw a strong chin. Trembling lips. He was trembling all over with desire. She was sure it was desire and not fear.
"This one," Tanja said. "I want to breed with this one."
"Very well." Dorinda snapped her fingers. The pet stepped forward obediently. "I understand there will be two of you?"
"Yes. I'm the only one who will breed, though. I heard the cost is less if I split with another guest."
"Indeed. We do allow that as long as at least one of you is here for breeding. We're not a pleasure house, after all. The fee will be a bit more for a doubled visit, but since you share that cost it will be cheaper for each of you than using two pets. Mind you, as I said, this capture is new. He may not fully understand how to pleasure a guest without breeding."
Nara shrugged.
"If Tanja wants this one, fine. I'm sure we can teach the capture anything I want him to learn. This visit is mostly for her sake, anyhow."
"Have your pick take your luggage to the Breeding House. We have dinner ready for the women guests. Afterward he'll be waiting for you in the Red Room downstairs. I'm sure he will satisfy you both."
Tanja watched the capture lick his lips at Dorinda's words and almost said she would forget dinner and have him satisfy her now. Only the thought of how Nara would laugh at her eagerness made Tanja merely nod and follow her friend to the dining hall in the main house.
She had already started on her way there when she paused and turned. She walked back to the pet. He looked up, startled, at her approach, forgetting to lower his gaze. Was he that fearful?
“Your name?” Tanja asked. “What are you called?”
He processed her words and then gave a wide grin.
“Four. Called Four. Miss Triss.”
He had a nice smile. It seemed almost guileless until you saw the sensual curve in his lips.
She might not be able to afford him, but Tanja suddenly longed to have the new capture all to herself. What a pity she couldn't afford a personal pet like that. She'd probably wear him out in the first week. She hoped that he could last the weekend entertaining both Nara's and her demands.
CHAPTER FOUR
"You allow yourself to be a personal pet?"
The hulking man before him stopped in mid-stride. He cocked his head at Adan with what looked like remarkably patronizing patience and said, "Yet another strange question. What do you mean by that…Capture?"
"You look like more of a man than that."
"Man. Pet. It's the same." The giant uncovered the food he'd brought and nodded to it. "Eat."
Adan began to shovel the food in with his hands, pausing for a half-second now and then to speak through the mouthfuls. "If you think it's the same, then I'm sorry for you. Being someone's pet isn't a position any man should be in."
"I'm Mistress Arness' pet," Primary said. "I can't imagine any better…position. But then you wouldn't know anything about that. Not cooped up in here. Wait until the mistress has been about your training for a few days. You'll wish you were me."
The slow, sensual smile he gave after saying that made Adan ready to growl like a wild beast. He didn't want to think about why the idea of Arness with this overgrown excuse for a man made him so angry. He just knew he'd been ready for a fight with Primary ever since she had first spoken so highly of him.
"To be Arness' personal sex toy and slave? I don't think so."
The next moment Adan found himself up against the wall with the other man's arm hard against his windpipe. Adan glared back, refusing to be cowed by Primary's strength.
"You speak of Mistress Arness with respect when you speak of her at all, little boy." The man spoke pleasantly, but his teeth were bared in what was more a snarl than a smile. "She's worth more than you or I put together. I've been with other women as their sex toy and slave. She saved me from that. I won't tolerate anyone sneering at her for that reason alone. But she's more. The mistress is an amazing woman. A wonderful teacher. Perdition, she's even capable of shaping you into a pet worthy of some female."
"I never asked for that." Adan tried to speak steadily through the pressure on his throat.
"Then you're fortunate enough to get something you haven't asked for." The man looked him up and down. He gradually eased up his grip. "You're young and you're pretty. Let Arness teach you and maybe in a few years you'll be worth something more than that to a woman."
"You're not young or pretty. Are you worth anything to your mistress? Besides threatening men who'd be beaten for fighting with you, I mean." Adan told himself to stop but something stronger than good sense kept the ugly words coming to his lips.
Primary laughed this time. "No. I'm not young or pretty. But I've learned enough tricks to keep the mistress happy. If you're lucky, you'll learn some before you age."
Adan bit his tongue. How did the man know that he'd been dreaming of what might interest a woman? Ever since Arness had touched him he'd wanted more. More of her touch. More of…everything. He'd never gotten so hard so often at just the thought of her. Hard enough to even think, for just a moment, what it might be like to give up his freedom just to service a female. Over and over again.
Curse his cock. Adan could feel it tighten a little, just at the thought. He could al
most feel her hands caressing him in spots he hadn’t even known wanted the feel of her. Blast it! He wasn’t the insatiable animal women thought all men were.
This overgrown lout did have a satisfied look to him, though, especially when he spoke about Arness. Curse him and her too.
* * * * *
"Mother." Salla knew it was foolish to feel hurt that her mother hadn't been just sitting and waiting for her, but there was a twinge of injury anyhow. Dorinda had given her tea and efficiently seen to her mound of luggage, but it had taken almost a half hour before her mother appeared. Salla had checked the length of time by the large clock in the dining room.
Morgena arrived in a rush, swooping her up. "Back at last! It's been years, girl."
Salla thought for a moment her mother might cry. Even worse, for a moment Salla felt tears stinging under her eyelids, threatening to fall. She refused to cry in front of her large audience. As always, when Morgena appeared, a group of males trailed respectfully after her, waiting to be noticed.
"Mama." Salla kissed her mother's two cheeks, Academy fashion. "It was a beast of a journey but it's done. Thank you for the males you sent to help with the luggage."
If Morgena had meant them to do more, Salla refused to acknowledge it.
"They spend all their time here breeding and eating. Might as well have a few of 'em make themselves useful." Morgena looked carefully at her. "You look all dainty and citified, child. But pretty enough."
Salla wasn't overly fond of her diminutive frame and even less fond of being told she was petite, tiny or even dainty.
"That's what you paid money to make me become, Mama."
"True enough. We have plenty of time to see what else you've become since you've been away. Meanwhile you're probably dusty and tired. A bath before dinner?"
"That sounds wonderful." Salla had dreamed of a decent bath during the entire trip.