by Logan Fox
Seth stood at the foot of the stairs leading into the den, a hand against the wall. “Hear what?” Seth glanced between her and Caden. “I just got here.”
Pearl looked back at Caden. He was pointing at her with a limp finger without taking his eyes off Seth.
“What she just said. Did you hear?”
Seth widened his eyes at Caden, crossing his arms over his chest. “I just got—”
Caden slapped the wall. Pearl jumped, swinging back to him. He was staring at Seth as if purposefully avoiding Pearl. Touching a knuckle to the bottom of his nose, Caden gave his head a shake and walked past her. He snapped his fingers at her and pointed up the stairs.
“I’m waiting. Make haste.”
And with that, he trotted up the stairs.
“Kitten?” Seth’s voice drew closer. “Everything okay?”
Pearl managed a nod. She glanced reluctantly over her shoulder, but the lighting in the room had returned to normal. “I… Caden needs me for something.”
Seth laid a hand on her shoulder. She couldn’t avoid the wince — the touch didn’t hurt, but her nerves were frayed.
“And this?” Seth picked at the edge of the robe with his fingernail. “Ethan’s?”
“Aftercare,” Pearl said, trying her best to ignore a sudden swell of guilt.
Wait, guilt? It wasn’t like she was cheating on her handler. The thought made her want to laugh, but she knew whatever came out of her mouth wouldn’t sound jolly or funny at all — just hysterical.
“Sorry about that.” Seth tightened his grip. “Tanner’s on a bender. Gone and shuffled a bunch of things around. Probably why Caden’s acting so fucking weird — he hates it when Tanner gets up in his shit.”
Pearl could feel time oozing away from her the longer Seth spoke. The longer his black eyes peered down at her with that faint look of concern he so often wore around her.
“I… have to get dressed.”
“Sure,” Seth said, releasing her.
Pearl hesitated, and then turned on her heel and headed away from her room.
“Pearl?”
She’d anticipated the unspoken question, but she still hadn’t worked out an answer. “I… I just…”
She forced herself not to look back and slipped inside Morgan and Ivy’ room. Well, just Morgan’s room now. Was the girl happy she had the space to herself? Or as freaked out as Pearl about her roomie disappearing? Did she even care?
Pearl opened the cupboard on the left – Morgan’s. She wasn’t about to go borrowing Ivy’s clothes — not when she didn’t know if the girl was alive or dead — and took out a yellow sweatpant and jumper set.
Seth filled the doorway when she turned around, and she jerked.
“What’s going on, kitten?”
Pearl bundled the soft fabric against her chest and shrugged. “It’s… freaky down here.”
“You don’t like being alone?”
Pearl opened her mouth to tell him that she was just fine with being alone — preferred it, in fact — but then a thought jostled for attention. This could be the perfect way to inveigle Seth into Ethan’s plan without the handler growing suspicious.
“Just sometimes. Just here.” She shrugged. “With everyone gone, it’s so quiet. I keep…” Pausing, she glanced over her shoulder. Here, at least, the shadows behaved decently and lurked under the bed like they were supposed to. “I keep seeing things.”
Seth beckoned her. “Well, if you want, you could stay at my place tonight. Morgan’s with Tanner, so I doubt she’ll be coming back. It would just be you.”
“You’re sure? I mean… won’t they mind?”
Seth exhaled through his nose, sliding his arm over her shoulder and tugging her tight. Pearl winced, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Howsabout I don’t tell anyone, then? It’ll be our little secret, kitten.”
Pearl nodded into his shoulder.
Their little secret?
Perfect.
Pearl followed Caden into the dungeon’s viewing room. The man avoided eye contact with her until they were seated in the cinema-style couches, watching one of Ethan’s foxes lounging on the altar.
“What you said…” Caden’s voice trailed away, and Pearl glanced over at him, lifting her eyebrows.
When he looked at her his blue eyes were intent but skittish, as if he suspected her answer was something he wouldn’t like.
“When?”
“In the den.”
Pearl glanced at the viewing glass, but Caden’s intense stare drew her gaze unwillingly back.
“I don’t know—”
“You said twenty-seven. Twenty-seven of them.”
“I did?” Pearl shrugged. All she could remember was the shadow — the thing that looked intent on swallowing Caden into its nightmare dimension and spitting out his bones.
“You don’t remember?” There was a tremor of relief, or perhaps astonishment. The man’s expressionless face provided no context for his words.
The dungeon door opened, and Pearl turned away. The fox on the altar — she had nearly waist-length brunette hair and a wide mouth — sat up expectantly.
Caden had gone silent. Pearl shifted, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. He had a knuckle pressed to the corner of his lips, as if he was biting the inside of his mouth.
Opal hadn’t been kidding when she’d said everyone was on edge. And high. Caden’s pupils crowded out his irises — possibly because of the subdued lighting inside the room, possibly because he’d consumed copious amounts of coke today.
Movement drew Pearl’s gaze back to the dungeon.
The fox — Betty? Belinda? — wore her ears and tail, the yellow dress draped loosely over her body as if it was a few sizes too big. Was that intentional, or had she been dressing out of someone else’s closet like Pearl? Morgan’s clothes were tight around Pearl’s hips and loose around her chest.
A lycra-clad figure strode into the dungeon. The dragon’s full, pouting mouth peeked out from under a mask that covered almost her entire head — she almost looked like Batman, if he’d taken to red lycra instead of black rubber.
The fox slid into a deep bow, her forehead touching the altar.
“Ready for some pain, you disgusting worm?”
Pearl leaned forward. There was no mistaking the pitch of that voice: the dragon was a woman.
The fox let out a low wail. “If it is my Mistress’s wish.”
“Of course it is, slut. Now get naked and spread those legs.”
Belinda wriggled out of her dress without lifting her head. The dragon snatched up the bundle of yellow fabric and tossed it over her shoulder. She turned to the glass and tipped her chin up.
Caden made a small noise in the back of his throat. Pearl glanced at him again; he had his arms crossed over his chest, his chin almost touching his chest. That grip was tight, his jaw bunching. Nervous? Or expectant?
A crack forced Pearl’s head straight.
An impossibly long bullwhip dangled loosely from the woman’s hand as she moved around the altar. “I don’t see you tying up those bony wrists of yours, slut. Do I have to come over there and do it for you? Do you expect your Mistress to pander to you?”
Another crack, that bullwhip kissing the curve of the fox’s ass. The girl shot up from her bow with a yelp, her nails digging into the leather.
Pearl shifted, her stomach tightening. How could Caden make her watch this after what Owen—
“What did you see?”
Pearl started at Caden’s voice. She turned to him, for a moment at a loss for words. What the hell was he—
He hadn’t taken his eyes off the scene, but his grip had relaxed slightly.
“In the den. Downstairs. You said you saw something.”
Pearl gave a half-nod, forcing her eyes back to the dungeon. The dragon watched motionless as the trembling fox bound her own hands with a length of black rope.
“It was nothing,” Pearl said. “Just my imagination.”
&n
bsp; “Didn’t sound like it.”
“Well it was.” Pearl drew a breath, forcing calm into her words. “Kinda stressed out lately.”
Caden rose, drawing Pearl’s gaze away from the fox and the dragon. He went over to the counter beside the coffee machine. Seconds later came a tap-tap-tap as he cut a line of coke. Pearl faced forward with a grimace as he ducked down. She tried not to listen to him snorting, to the mini-fridge’s door opening, to his muffled footsteps as he returned.
He sat down and handed her a cherry soda. She took it without looking, giving her lips a quick swipe with her tongue.
“Is it tight?” the dragon asked.
“Yes, Mistress.”
“It better be, you cunt. If I come over there and—”
“It’s fascinating, isn’t it?” Caden’s quiet voice made Pearl shift.
It was uncomfortable, perching on the edge of the soft couch. She’d rather be sinking into it, but she knew that even the slightest touch against her wounds would have her reeling with pain. Whatever painkillers Ethan had fed her was starting to wear off — those five wounds pulsed with steadily-increasing waves of pain.
“What is?” Pearl took a sip of the soda, not even tasting it.
The dragon checked the fox’s restraints. It looked like she’d lucked out — the woman seemed happy with the knots. Perhaps this wasn’t the fox’s first time tying herself up.
“Up, you little bitch. Reach for the sky.” The dragon slid her foot under the altar. Seconds later, a hook descended.
Pearl suppressed a shudder.
Gia’d been suspended on that hook, not so long ago. All tied up and dripping wet for her wolf.
Was the girl really safe in California?
Or was she rotting away in a hole somewhere, waiting for something with a good nose and a voracious appetite to sniff her out?
Pearl hurriedly took another swallow of the soda. Beside her, Caden sipped at an energy drink. So she hadn’t imagined those shadows under his eyes.
What had Opal been going to say in the bathroom earlier?
“The dynamics between a top and a bottom,” Caden said.
“The what of the what?” Pearl frowned, but as much as she wanted to look at Caden, the dragon once again had her transfixed. She’d grabbed up the fox’s wrists and was sliding that black rope over the hook.
The hook ascended, drawing the fox onto her knees with her arms straight up over her head.
“The dragon. She’s a humiliatrix. The top in this scenario. She’s a professional — works in one of the top BDSM clubs in Chinatown. Comes here to work out new routines for her slaves.”
“Slaves,” Pearl repeated quietly.
The dragon drew back her whip, striking the fox with a solid crack.
“Belinda’s the bottom — the one receiving. In this case, pain and humiliation. And stimulation too, in a few minutes.”
“Does she like it?”
“Belinda?” Caden made a small, musing sound in the back of his throat. “I’ve only watched her twice, but I do think she gets into the spirit of things.”
He sniffed, and Pearl glanced at him from the corner of her eye again. Touching a knuckle to his nose, Caden gave his head a shake.
“It’s hard to tell, sometimes.” He let out a small laugh. “She was right, you know.”
“Who, Belinda?” Pearl turned to him, fully expecting a reprimand for not watching the scene, but Caden’s attention wasn’t on the pair behind the glass either.
Pearl drank the rest of her soda and slid the can into its designated slot on the console.
Caden’s eyes, intent behind those glasses, pointed forward but looked in. His dilated pupils stretched the blue of irises to a thin band of cold color that gave his face a softer cast than its usual rigid mask.
“Opal.” This was almost a whisper. “She said that introducing money into the equation voided the girl’s consent.”
Pearl blinked. Opal had said that? Somehow she couldn’t imagine words like that coming from the girl’s mouth.
“Said money fucked up their reasoning,” Caden added, as if realizing his retelling had become clouded. “That they would agree to getting sodomized by a donkey if you paid them enough.”
Another abrupt laugh.
“I told her I would never pay someone to do that.”
Pearl licked her lips again. She faced forward, wincing as the whip tasted the skin on the back of Belinda’s thigh. Belinda howled.
“Caden, I can’t—” Pearl said as a wave of nausea washed over her.
“I realize this must be difficult for you.” Caden let out a huge breath. He slid his fingers behind his glasses and massaged his eyes. “Which is why I apologized for bringing you. Unfortunately, I can’t disregard my own rules.”
“What about Seth? Can’t—”
“He’s with Tina. And Ethan’s with another of his foxes. And they each have a fox with them as their plus one.”
Pearl exhaled slowly. She sat back, hissing when her back touched the couch. Was she fucking mental? It wasn’t as if her wounds had stopped pulsing that dull, throbbing pain into her flesh. She sat forward again, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands.
There was a click. Pearl glanced to the side. Caden had unlatched the console. He pushed it up out of the way. What had happened to her empty soda can, God only knew. The back of the console — now flush with the two couches — was padded and upholstered like the two cushions to either side of it.
And where the console had been? More plush cushioning.
Because who wouldn’t want a loveseat in a place like this? Cozy, romantic… and the view?
Spectacular.
Pearl turned her head to the side, watching Caden with narrowed, wary eyes.
“You can lay on your side, if you want. As long as you can still see.”
Because that was important, of course.
Pearl straightened, staring at the dragon as the woman wrapped her whip around Belinda’s torso. This didn’t seem to hurt — Belinda’s eyes slid closed, her head hanging down between her arms.
“As long as you don’t fall asleep.”
Pearl sank onto her side. She’d aimed for her head to land beside Caden’s leg, but either he’d moved it or her calculations had been off. Her cheek touched warm, soft fabric.
She jerked, starting to rise again, but a hand on her shoulder stilled her.
“Can you still see?”
“Unfortunately,” Pearl muttered.
She didn’t have to tell him that the lower half of Belinda’s body was hidden, right? Surely, as long as she could see their faces…
Pearl expected him to take his hand away, but it lay draped over her shoulder as if he’d forgotten about it.
Perhaps he had. She glanced up at him.
Those blue eyes were unfocused again, his face slack and emotionless.
Pearl’s eyes drooped. There was a bit of pressure on the wound on her lower back, but it wasn’t enough to cause excessive pain. In fact, the pain was subsiding slightly. That, or her body had decided she’d needed another dose of au naturel epinephrine.
Belinda wailed.
Pearl’s eyes shot open — when had they fallen closed? — and she winced. Belinda flailed at the end of her bonds, writhing in the throes of what had obviously been a painful blow.
“Did I give you permission to look at me, worm? When did you decide you were anywhere close to my equal?”
“I’m sorry, Mistress! You’re so beautiful, is all. I couldn’t—”
The dragon spat on Belinda’s face. “So you thought you could look at me?”
“I’m sorry, Mistress!” Belinda’s face contorted. “I’m so—”
Caden’s fingers tightened around Pearl’s shoulder.
“I’m closing the Fox Pit.”
Pearl blinked, twisting her head to up at Caden. He still stared forward but, as if feeling her eyes on him, glanced down. His lips curled into a faint smile.
&
nbsp; “I expected relief, Miss Buchanan, not surprise.”
“I am relieved,” she managed. “But just as surprised.”
Caden shrugged, his eyes returning to the scene. There was another crack of the whip. Another wail from pretty Belinda. When he didn’t say anything else, Pearl swallowed and faced forward again.
“Why?” she asked, squeezing her eyes shut as the whip bit into Belinda’s ass again.
“It’s time.”
“Seems a bit sudden.”
“Not at all. You were our last hire. Well, technically Tina had been our last hire. You were… our last, last hire.”
Pearl’s stomach slowly turned over. A hair tickled the side of her nose, and she carefully tucked it behind her ear, making sure she didn’t move her eyes from the scene in front of her.
She hadn’t liked the way he’d said ‘last hire’.
Hadn’t liked it one fucking bit.
The dragon made Belinda do a lot of things in the hour or so that Pearl lay on Caden’s lap, watching. After the whipping, the dragon untied the wretched girl and made her lick the dragon’s feet. And then made her crawl on the floor — all four’s style — while she called her a plethora of highly imaginative and derogatory names.
Belinda drank out of a dog bowl.
Belinda begged for and received a bone-shaped biscuit.
Belinda whimpered as the dragon shoved a dildo so deep inside her that Pearl thought it could only be removed by a skilled surgeon and a telescope.
Belinda curled into a ball and slept for ten minutes at the dragon’s feet while the woman took a smoke break.
And then Belinda gave the dragon three orgasms in a row. After each, the dragon would slap her and tell her to try harder, to move her disgusting little tongue faster or slower like her Mistress had taught her.
Belinda apparently got it right on the third try, because her Mistress forced her to cum with that same dildo, despite Belinda’s breathy protestations.
“In fact,” Caden said, his fingers flinching on Pearl’s shoulder, “you were never meant to be hired in the first place.”
Pearl didn’t say anything. She knew — the whole fucking universe knew — that she wasn’t supposed to be here. The galaxy’s cosmic balance, this dimension’s entire helping of karma, had all been thrown out of whack by her rocking up at Owen’s place that Saturday afternoon with a signed contract.