by Ann Jacobs
No Bounds
Ann Jacobs
Exiled for being caught in an underground BDSM club back home, Master Cole Callender has a plan—to build a resort on planet Obsidion where Earthlings can indulge in BDSM practices forbidden on Earth…a pleasure planet where no sexual practices are taboo.
When beautiful, submissive Amber joins him on Obsidion, Cole resolves to make her his own. First, though, he must conquer not only the evil Dom who wants her but also Amber’s deep sense of worthlessness—so he can finally bring her to pleasure without inflicting serious pain.
A Romantica® sci-fi/futuristic erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
No Bounds
Ann Jacobs
Prologue
The year 2150, Federation of Earth
The manager met him at the door of the underground club and jerked him inside. “I’m sorry to have had to drag you here, Master Cole. I know you don’t come to the clubs anymore, now that the governing council has outlawed them, but I saw Mistress Ciel and Amber come in and take a private dungeon. When Master Dax got here a little while ago and told me they were expecting him to join them, I figured there was likely to be trouble.”
The sort of trouble that got BDSM clubs shut down in the first place, Cole thought sourly. “It’s all right. Not your fault. You can’t be expected to keep an eye on my sister and her friend 24/7. How long have they been here?”
“About two hours.” Ellen sounded apologetic as she hurried them down the stairs to the underground levels. “Master Dax only got here about forty minutes ago. That was when I called you—as soon as I realized he intended to join them.”
Cole mentally refreshed his memory about the layout of this club, which occupied the basement and sub-basements of an old garment factory. As he recalled, there were only two exits, the one at ground level through which he’d entered and an emergency escape route through a hollowed-out tunnel accessible from one of the lower tiers. At least one club employee always manned the main door to look out for the Federation police and hopefully warn patrons in time for them to escape through the tunnel in case of a raid.
That was unless the cops had discovered both exits. In that case, everyone inside would be trapped like the rats that most likely lived in the dank, dark nooks and crannies of the ancient building. The place definitely reminded him of a dungeon, but not the kind he preferred, set up for the type of pleasure a certain amount of pain might bring to one’s submissive partners.
This dungeon was more like ones that had been used centuries ago, during the Inquisition, when pain had been all about pain, not pleasure. It was about fear. Sweat and blood.
He quickened his pace as the sounds of flogging and cries of submissives grew louder. “How much farther?”
“All the way down, Master.” Ellen started taking the steps two at a time, as though the agonized pleas and screams were getting to her too.
Cole wanted to strangle his crazy sister. Why the hell had she gotten it into her head she could top Master Dax? Idiot! The vicious Dom was a known sociopath, a fine example of the type of BDSM practitioners that had gotten the lifestyle outlawed. Incredible, he thought, that a woman who’d aced every course at the university could be so completely lacking in common sense.
By outlawing the sex clubs, the Federation in its so-called wisdom had inadvertently given vicious Doms like Dax free rein, since all clubs were now illegal and thus unregulated.
A high-pitched wail pierced the dense, fetid air of the narrow stairwell. Cole charged toward the sound. An image of Amber’s sweet face, her large eyes and soft pink lips, flashed in his mind. Bile bubbled up in his belly and nausea threatened to overtake him.
A result of anxiety, not rotten food. His concern was more for Amber than for his headstrong sister, who had brought her fate on herself. If Ceil was trying to fulfill a death wish, that was one thing. But to use Amber to lure Dax into her lair? Cole couldn’t forgive her for endangering the gentle, submissive woman who’d been his childhood friend.
He pictured Amber bloodied and bruised—maybe worse. “Fuck!” He’d kill the bastard if he had injured her, no matter how insignificant the damage might be. “Which room?”
“That one, Master Cole.” Ellen gestured toward the heavy, iron-laced wooden door to their right.
Kicking the door in, the first thing Cole saw was Amber, bound to a St. Andrew’s cross. He followed the path of a cane as it whistled through the air and hit her breasts with a sickening thud. Blood streamed from cuts on her shoulders, her belly, her thighs. Tears stained her cheeks, mingled with blood where the cane had just struck.
When Dax raised the cane again, Cole charged in. “I’m gonna kill you, you sadistic son of a bitch.”
Amber blinked through her tears. Cole had come to save her. She could hardly believe it. For the past year he had apparently wanted little to do with her. He’d even quit taking the time to do a little casual flirting with her when he ran into her and Ciel around his father’s house.
What would Cole do if he knew how she missed those times? She’d replayed those moments over and over in her mind, pretending she’d seen something more than casual affection for his sister’s friend in his smiling eyes.
Could he possibly have known how often she’d hoped he would someday invite her and Ciel to one of his parties? In the old days, when his preferred club had been open, she had eagerly gone there with Ciel just so she could watch him. She’d wished that she could have taken the place of whatever sub he’d had on her knees, lovingly servicing his big, rigid cock.
The two men crashed into the wall, sending equipment clattering to the floor and slamming her back into the present. Cole seized a flogger off the wall, then caught the cane when Dax swung it at his face.
If only she could get free, she could help him. She could…
I’ve got you now, you bastard. I’ll flog you to within an inch of your worthless life.
Cole slammed a foot into the center of Dax’s chest, then raised the flogger and laid it across the other man’s bare thighs. Dax let out a stream of obscenities.
“You don’t much like it when it’s being done to you, do you, you sadistic prick?” Cole raised the flogger again but Ciel came out of the shadows like a madwoman.
“Leave him alone,” she yelled, struggling to get control of the flogger just as the door flew open and the chamber filled with cops. “He’s mine.”
“Back off, Ciel.” Cole dropped the flogger. “And try to act like a victim.” There was no chance that he could save himself, but with luck he’d be able to keep the police from taking his sister and Amber. “Oh shit, here comes a TV crew.”
He whipped around and faced Amber, trying to block her from the reporters’ cameras so they couldn’t get a shot of her naked, bleeding body. Dax and Ciel both wore concealing masks. His own face, however, would be out there on the six o’clock news for everyone to see. There was nothing he could do about that now.
As a cop clamped the cuffs on him and dragged him away with Master Dax, Cole tried to imagine a scenario where he would come out of this smelling like anything but leftovers from last week’s fish dinner.
Nothing came immediately to mind.
* * * * *
Eight hours later, Cole sat on the hot seat—a leather chair in front of Federation Commissioner Alan Callender’s desk. He didn’t blame his scowling father, who had bailed him out of the local lockup to the tune of ten thousand credits and God only knew how much political capital. Cole made himself focus on a spot beyond his disappointed parent’s left ear.
Since graduating from the university, Cole had worked hard with Alan at his various businesses. In that way, at least, Cole was certain he’d made his father proud. In less than five years he had taken several startup concerns and turned t
hem into successful businesses, as well as reviving some older endeavors and making them yield profits again. There was only one thing—his lifestyle—that had always given his father reason for concern.
Cole didn’t kid himself. Alan knew he was into BDSM. He also knew that Cole had given up club play since the council had declared them off limits.
Alan probably even had a good idea that Cole’s sister was the reason he had gone to the illegal club. Ciel had never made any effort to hide her disdain for the law, and their father often found it necessary to extricate her from the trouble she courted nearly every day.
Alan looked Cole in the eye. “This is a difficult situation, son. I’m thinking there’s only one choice for you, other than imprisonment.”
Cole made a feeble attempt at levity. “I didn’t realize there was any choice at all.” He attempted a smile, failed. “I thought I was destined to have a prison job for the next five years.”
“No. Not even if I have to collect on every bit of political capital I’ve accumulated.” Alan paused for a moment, then continued, “You know, you’ve amassed an impressive portfolio yourself while running my companies the past few years. And you’ve earned every credit. You’re a sharp businessman.”
Right then, Cole didn’t feel very proud. “I’m afraid that what I did tonight doesn’t reflect well on me. Or you.”
Alan shook his head. “Treating the women as helpless victims was a clever stroke. You knew their identities wouldn’t be revealed that way, and only your name and that of the other man would be involved. I’m not such a fool, though, that I don’t realize you got into this mess because of your sister.”
Ciel? In his mind, Cole saw Amber and felt the pain that had radiated from her, from every bleeding welt that Dax had caused with his metal-tipped cane. She’d been a helpless victim—not only Dax’s but also Ciel’s.
Not for the first time, Cole wondered what motivated Amber to allow such extremes to be done to her without availing herself of a safe word. “What are my choices, Father? What will help you the most?”
“It’s not about me, son. It’s about you. And exile is the choice. Permanent transportation off planet Earth.”
“What?”
“I can arrange for you to be sent to Obsidion. There’s been talk of letting private investors turn it into an off-world pleasure resort.”
Excitement caught Cole up for the first time since his arrest. “I could open a club there.”
“That’s what I was thinking. You could capitalize on the fact there are many Earthlings who espouse a lifestyle that is no longer acceptable here. I imagine a man with your business acumen could create a resort that would allow BDSM aficionados to indulge their inclinations safely. A place that might allow fathers like me not to worry quite so much.” A hint of a smile played on Alan’s otherwise somber face.
“I could build a resort.” Cole pictured not just the upscale sex club that had first crossed his mind, but a full-fledged vacation paradise. He envisioned a glitzy complex including a five-star hotel, restaurants, casinos and nightclubs featuring imported talent from Earth. His off-planet paradise would boast all the draws of Las Vegas before the Federation had taken over but with the added attraction of the open, guilt-free practice of the BDSM lifestyle. “I like the idea.”
That prospect certainly beat spending the next however many years in prison. “I believe I’ll start out by building the kind of club that will attract the more desirable elements of the lifestyle, then start on construction of the resort.”
His father nodded, his expression sobering. “I will miss you, but going to Obsidion is the best choice for you now that you’ve run afoul of the ruling council. I hope you will find the happiness that has eluded you lately. Perhaps I will send Ciel there too. You managed to save her from arrest this time, but if she stays here, sooner or later she’ll be caught.”
It terrified Cole to know that when his sister went down, Amber would most likely be dragged along with her. “If you send her to me, I’ll do my best to take care of her. Father, I’m sorry.”
“You will not be as sorry as I, for I will miss my youngest and dearest child.” Rising, Alan circled his massive desk and held out his arms to Cole. “Perhaps someday I will visit Obsidion and try to comprehend what it is about BDSM that makes people risk their freedom here on Earth in order to practice it.”
Cole hugged his father, hard. “And perhaps one day I will return here, if the ruling council should decide to concentrate on matters of more importance to the state than regimenting its people’s personal lives based on its narrow beliefs about what is right and moral.”
Chapter One
A year later, on the planet Obsidion
Everything was shaping up for the grand opening two weeks from next Tuesday of the club he’d named No Bounds. Workmen had finished installing the last pieces of shiny new equipment in the dungeon rooms. The place was looking good, if he said so himself.
Cole stood in his office, still damp from a quick shower as he pulled a fresh T-shirt over his head. It had felt good to sweat, this time from sexual play instead of backbreaking labor. Now that all the equipment had been installed, he and the dozen men and women he’d hired to serve as club Doms and subs had spent the last couple of days putting the equipment through its paces.
Fuck, but that hot Domme from Warsaw—Magda with the unpronounceable last name—knew how to give a damn fine blowjob. Cole’s cock still gave an occasional twitch, and it had been half an hour since she’d gone down on him. While Magda was a natural Domme, she had filled in whenever a sub was needed at her former place of employment. She had demonstrated this afternoon how a Dom could tie her up to the shiny rotating St. Andrew’s cross and she could still make him come and come and come.
Yeah, Magda would be a prime attraction for all the male subs who would be flocking to the club. She’d be a hit with some of the other Doms as well, he imagined.
But even after a year away from Earth, Cole still couldn’t look down at the crown of Magda’s head and not fantasize about Amber. He visualized her soft blonde hair curling around her angel face, her delicate ears and slender throat. He couldn’t help imagining how silky her skin would feel if he grazed his fingertips over her shoulders and arms while she serviced him, a scene he’d never experienced except in his wildest fantasies.
Since he’d come to Obsidion, he’d dreamed about a lot of things he wished he could do with Amber. And he’d worried about her. It made Cole’s gut tighten, thinking about her being in a place like the one where they’d all been caught. Unfortunately, he had no doubt that his sister had taken Amber right back into that dangerous environment.
He’d known Amber since they’d been kids. She had moved into his neighborhood to live with elderly relatives after her parents’ deaths. Although she was Cole’s age, Amber had let the older, more sophisticated Ciel take her under her wing. Many a time Cole had lusted after Amber but quashed his feelings because of his sister’s obvious prior claim.
Truth was, as his attraction toward Amber had grown, he had distanced himself from Ciel’s social pursuits, and not only because he’d tried to keep his lifestyle under wraps once BDSM had been outlawed, though that was what he’d told himself. He had avoided Ciel because seeing Amber with her had fueled feelings he’d convinced himself were wrong.
Now it seemed that Ciel was avoiding him.
His father had looked worried yesterday when they’d had their weekly conversation on the video phone.
“Ciel is just as uncontrolled as ever but she still refuses to join you on Obsidion,” Alan had told him after they’d exhausted the topic of the progress Cole was making on No Bounds.
Ciel’s decision made Cole uneasy, because he knew that whatever trouble his sister got into back on Earth, Amber would be right there with her.
The video phone’s com link lit up just then, and Cole pushed the connect button when he saw his father’s ID on the screen. “Is something wrong?” Since he’
d talked to Alan only yesterday, he hadn’t expected to hear from him again so soon. Interplanetary calls weren’t cheap.
“Your sister was caught in a raid last night with her friend Amber. She has no choice now but to accept exile. I’m putting them both onto the next transporter leaving for Obsidion. It is due to leave here the day after tomorrow.”
Cole wanted to strangle Ciel for having put Amber at risk again. He couldn’t deny the part of him that wanted to hug her too, because now Amber would be coming to Obsidion.
He was finished with staying away from Amber. Ciel had done nothing to deserve that consideration.
* * * * *
Finally. Cole had practically finished training his staff. Only one of his most recent hires had not worked out—a burly Dom whose tactics reminded him of a Dax-in-training. No problem, because Cole could fill in as the fourth club Dom until he could find a suitable replacement. If he had been into black leather and all-over tattoos, he could have picked as many as a dozen Doms from the applicants he’d turned away, but he wanted to keep the atmosphere here more upscale, so as not to scare away the women who wanted to dabble in the world of BDSM while on vacation but who weren’t deeply into the lifestyle.
After all, it took a good many credits to hop on a transporter and blast off-planet for a taste of the sexual experiences Cole would be offering his guests at No Bounds. In his experience, affluence and conventionality went hand in hand, at least as far as what people expected Doms and subs to look like.
He’d leave the heavy metal and the leather to the two clubs that had beaten him into business here on the Pleasure Planet—and any establishments that might follow. If No Bounds became the hit with customers that Cole expected, he would soon be able to open the resort hotel he had commissioned a famous architect to design, where discriminating customers might indulge their every sexual fantasy in an atmosphere of sybaritic luxury.